List of terminology by alphabetical order
Naturally, the featured game is Japanese mahjong. Therefore, a multitude number of Japanese terminology are used. The following list includes the Japanese terminology, English equivalent, and the terminology usage.
Terminology list
| Agari
「和がり」 |
Generic call for winning a hand. |
| Aidayonken
「間四軒」 |
An interval of four between two discarded number tiles. Usually indicates dangerous waits. A discarded 1 and 6 make a 2—5 wait very probable. |
| Akapai
「赤牌」 |
Red tiles that count as Dora. Usually fives, but not always. |
| An
「暗」 |
Means "dark", refers to tiles that are concealed in the hand. |
| Anjun
「暗順」 |
Three self-drawn consecutive tiles of the same suit, used as one of the four melds in a regular hand. An open sequence would be a minjun, the general term for a sequence is shuntsu. |
| Ankan
「暗槓」 |
Four self-drawn identical tiles set aside as a kantsu. Declaring an ankan does not open the hand if it was previously closed. |
| Ankou
「暗刻」 |
Three self-drawn identical tiles, used as one of the four melds in a regular hand. Compare with the yaku names san ankou and suu ankou. An open triplet would be a minkou, and the general term for any triplet is koutsu. |
| Anpai
「安牌」 |
Safe tile, or tiles not subject to agari (to be called as winning tiles). |
| Aotenjou
「青天井」 |
A rarely used rule, which eliminates the score cappings mangan, haneman, etc., and scores all hands as directly with the scoring formula. |
| Ari
「あり,アリ,有り」 |
States that the preceding rule is used, as in akadora ari for playing with red fives. Opposite of nashi. |
| Ari ari
「アリアリ」 |
Ruleset which allows kuitan and atozuke. Most common basic set of rules in Japan. |
| Atama
「頭」 |
The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also "jantou". |
| Atozuke
「先付け」 |
Allows a hand to win despite having no guaranteed yaku while in tenpai, as long as the winning tile generates a yaku. Opposite of sakizuke. |
| Awaseuchi
「合わせ打ち」 |
Discarding the same tile as someone else, to avoid dealing into their hand. |
| Ba
「場」 |
A “wind round”, e.g. tonba (east round) or nanba (south round). |
| Bakahon
「バカホン」 |
Slang for honitsu nomi with no extra yaku or dora. |
| Bakaze
「場風」 |
Round wind. |
| Barai
「払い」 |
A payment. Also “furikomi”. |
| Bazoro
「場ゾロ」 |
The two base Han used when calculating score, given by default rather than from yaku. |
| Betaori
「ベタ降り」 |
A strategy that focuses entirely on avoiding dealing into opponents’ hands, with no intention of developing one’s own hand. |
| Chakan
「加槓」 |
A kantsu that was upgraded from a minkou. |
| Chii
「チー」 |
The call used to make a minjun from an opponent’s discard. |
| Chombo
「冲合」 |
A penalty that results in a mangan payment and restarts the current round. |
| Chunchan
「中張」 |
The tiles numbered 2 through 8. |
| Daburon
「ダブロン」 |
A rule that allows two people to Ron the same tile. |
| Daiminkan
「大明槓」 |
A kan formed with possession of three tile types, and calling on the discarded fourth tile. |
| Damaten
「黙聴」 |
A tactic of holding tenpai without calling riichi. |
| Dejitaru
「デジタル」 |
A school of thought focused on the outcome of a game, explained by probability and statistics. |
| Dora
「ドラ」 |
A feature to the game which rewards han to a hand, while in possession of tiles indicated by the revealed tile from the dead wall. |
| Dorahyouji
「ドラ表示」 |
The flipped tile on the dead wall, indicating the dora. |
| Fu
「符」 |
A unit used to measure the hand's score, based on meld and wait composition. |
| Furikomi
「振り込み」 |
A payment, also “barai”. |
| Furiten
「振聴」 |
A rule that disables a player's ability to win by discard, due to the presence of a winning tile in the discard and/or the declining of a win during riichi. |
| Fuutei
「副底」 |
The 20 base Fu used when calculating score, given by default rather than from composition. |
| Genbutsu
「現物」 |
A 100% safe tile. |
| Haipai
「配牌」 |
The players' dealt tiles at the beginning of a hand. |
| Haiteihai
「海底牌」 |
The last drawable tile in the wall. |
| Haiyama
「牌山」 |
The walls from which tiles are drawn. |
| Han
「飜」 |
The hand value count based on yaku value and/or dora. |
| Hanchan
「半荘」 |
A game consisting of an East and South round. |
| Harabote
「腹ボテ」 |
A Shanpon or Tanki wait embedded inside a Shuntsu. For example, 4556 waiting on 5. |
| Honba
「本場」 |
A counter to indicate the number of hands in-between winning hands, usually indicated by 100-point sticks. |
| Houjuu
「放銃」 |
To deal into a hand. |
| Houra
「和了」 |
To win a hand |
| Houteihai
「河底牌」 |
The very last discarded tile for a hand. |
| Iichan
「一荘」 |
A game consisting of East, South, West, and North rounds. More common in Chinese variants. |
| Ikasama
「イカサマ」 |
To cheat using sleight of hand, etc. |
| Inchiki
「雀頭」 |
The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also named “atama”. |
| Jantou
「雀頭」 |
The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also “atama”. |
| Jansou
「雀荘」 |
A public place specifically used to host and cater mahjong play |
| Jigokumachi
「地獄待ち」 |
A wait in which all but one of the winning tiles are visible or claimed. |
| Jihai
「字牌」 |
Character tiles (sangenpai and kazehai). |
| Jikaze
「自風」 |
Your seat wind. |
| Jun
「巡」 |
The turn number within a round. |
| Kabe
「壁」 |
A tile-counting technique that measures the possibility of someone making Shuntsu based on how many instances of a tile are visible. |
| Kamicha
「上家」 |
The player to the left of one's perspective. |
| Kantsu
「槓子」 |
A meld of four identical tiles, which must be declared as kan to be counted as such. |
| Karaten
「」 |
The state of a tenpai hand, by which all available waiting tiles are not available due to discards and/or dora indicators. |
| Kanchan
「嵌張」 |
A wait that completes the inside of a Shuntsu, like a 4-6 waiting on 5. |
| Kandora
「カンドラ」 |
Additional dora indicators revealed after calling kan. |
| Kazehai
「風牌」 |
Wind tiles. |
| Kikenhai
「危険牌」 |
Dangerous tile, or a tile that may be likely used by another player to win with. |
| Kiru
「切る」 |
To discard a tile. |
| Koutsu
「刻子」 |
A meld of three identical tiles. |
| Kuikae
「喰い替え」 |
A rule that allows you to call a tile, then discard another tile that could have completed the meld. For example, to chi 123 and discard a 4. |
| Kuisagari
「喰い下がり」 |
A property of some yaku that reduces the han value by 1 when the hand is open. |
| Kuitan
「喰い断」 |
A rule that allows tanyao to be open. |
| Kyoku
「局」 |
A portion of the game, starting from the dealing of tiles and ends with the declaration of a win, aborted hand, or draw. Examples: East Round 1. South Round 2. |
| Machi
「待ち」 |
The tiles waiting for with a tenpai hand. |
| Manzu
「萬子」 |
One of the three numbered suits, consisting of a kanji number plus 萬, meaning 10000. |
| Mawashiuchi
「回し打ち」 |
The strategy of attempting to develop a hand, while discarding only safe tiles. |
| Mentanpin
「メンタンピン」 |
Abbreviation for Menzen-Tanyao-Pinfu, a common set of yaku. |
| Mentsu
「面子」 |
The melds: koutsu, shuntsu, and kantsu. |
| Menzen
「門前」 |
A fully closed hand, thus no open melds. |
| Min
「明」 |
Meaning “light”, refers to tiles that have been exposed by calling. |
| Minjun
「」 |
An open shuntsu, or a sequence of three consecutive tiles, formed by calling chii on the previously missing tile. A concealed shuntsu would be an anjun. |
| Minkou
「明刻」 |
An open koutsu made by calling a discarded tile. |
| Naki
「鳴き」 |
Calling a discarded tile. |
| Nan
「南」 |
South wind tile. |
| Nashi
「なし,ナシ,無し」 |
States that the preceding rule is not in effect, as in kuikae nashi for disallowing players to call a tile and immediately discard another tile which would have also completed the called meld. |
| Nashi Nashi
「ナシナシ」 |
Ruleset which disallows kuitan and atozuke. Opposite of Ari Ari. |
| Nobetan
「延べ単」 |
A double Tanki wait, e.g. 4567 waiting on 4 or 7. |
| Noten
「ノーテン」 |
When your hand is not in tenpai at the end of the round. |
| Noten bappu
「ノーテン罰符」 |
A payment made at the end of a round by those who are not in tenpai (or choose not to reveal their hands) to those who are in tenpai. |
| Nukidora
「抜きドラ」 |
A tile that counts as Dora when extracted from the hand, e.g. flower tiles or the Pei (North) in most three-player variants. |
| Occult
「オカルト」 |
A school of thought tying game outcome with luck, flow, mahjong demons, psychology, etc. |
| Oka
「オカ」 |
First place bonus applied when calculating uma. |
| Oikake riichi
「追いかけリーチ」 |
To declare riichi after someone else rather than defend. |
| Okurikan
「送り槓」 |
Four tiles that could be called for kan, but rather left undeclared in order to use the tiles for other melds. |
| Oorasu
「オーラス」 |
The final regular hand of a game. |
| Otakaze
「客風」 |
Non-bonus wind tiles. For example, if seated South in the East round, then Otakaze are West and North tiles. |
| Oya
「親」 |
The dealer position, seated east |
| Pao
「包」 |
A property of certain yakuman that causes one person to be responsible for the whole payment if they discarded the tile that made it a yakuman. |
| Pei
「北」 |
North wind tile. |
| Penchan
「辺張」 |
A wait consisting of 12 waiting on 3, or 89 waiting on 7. |
| Pinzu
「筒子」 |
The suit consisting of dot patterns. |
| Pon
「ポン」 |
A tile call used to make a minkou from an opponent’s discard. |
| Renchan
「連荘」 |
A continuation of dealer position because the dealer either won or was tenpai at the end of the round. |
| riipai
「理牌」 |
Arranging the tiles in your hand. |
| Rinshanpai
「嶺上牌」 |
The tile drawn after making a Kan. |
| Ron
「栄 or ロン」 |
A win using an opponent’s discard. |
| Routouhai
「老頭牌」 |
The tiles numbered 1 and 9. |
| Ryankan
「両嵌」 |
Two kanchan shaped taatsu merged together, e.g. 357 which can be completed by either 4 or 6. |
| Ryanmen
「両面」 |
A two-sided wait, like 56 waiting on 4 or 7. |
| Ryuukyoku
「流局」 |
The end of the hand, where every tile not in players' hands and the dead wall has been drawn and discarded; and no winning hand was determined. |
| Saikoro
「骰子」 |
The dice, used to determine dealer position and wall breaks. |
| Sakizuke
「先付け」 |
Disallows a yakuless hand to win upon gaining yaku with a discard. Opposite to atozuke. |
| Sangenpai
「三元牌」 |
The dragon tiles: Haku, Hatsu, and Chun. |
| Sanma
「」 |
The game played with three players. |
| Sashikomi
「差し込み」 |
Intentionally dealing into an opponent’s hand. |
| Shaa
「西」 |
The west tile. |
| Shabo
「シャボ」 |
Abbreviation of shanpon. |
| Shanten
「向聴」 |
Number of tiles needed to reach tenpai. |
| Shanpon
「双ポン」 |
A wait consisting of two pairs, one of which must be upgraded to a koutsu. |
| Shibori
「絞り」 |
Holding on to tiles that an opponent would otherwise be likely to pon or chi. |
| Shimocha
「下家」 |
The player to the right. |
| Shoku
「色」 |
Suit. Literally means "color". |
| Shonpai
「生牌」 |
A tile that has not yet been discarded this round. |
| Shuntsu
「順子」 |
This is the generic term for, three consecutive tiles of the same suit, whether open or closed. Chii is used to call a tile to complete a shuntsu and set it aside as a minjun (open). A concealed (closed) shuntsu is an anjun. |
| Shuupai
「数牌」 |
The number tiles. Also “suupai”. |
| Souzu
「索子」 |
The suit consisting of patterns of bamboo sticks. |
| Suji
「筋」 |
The tiles that complete ryanmen (open waits). Means “muscle”. |
| Suupai
「数牌」 |
The number tiles. Also “shuupai”. |
| Suteru
「捨てる」 |
To discard a tile. |
| Taatsu
「塔子」 |
A tile pattern that can be turned into a shuntsu with one more tile. For example, 46 can be completed with a 5. |
| Takame
「高目」 |
The specific tile with a multiple tile wait, during tenpai, that would produce the most points. Opposite of yasume. |
| Tanyaohai
「断幺牌」 |
The tiles numbered 2 through 8. Also “chunchan”. |
| Tanki
「単騎」 |
A wait on a single tile to complete the pair. |
| Tenbou
「点棒」 |
Point sticks. |
| Tenpai
「聴牌」 |
A hand that needs only one tile to win. |
| Tenpane
「テンパネ」 |
The advantage of rounding up to the higher 10 fu mark, when just crossing the previous 10 fu. Example: Being 2 fu above 30 fu, allowing an above rounding of 40 fu. |
| Tochuu ryuukoku
「途中流局」 |
Specific conditions that immediately ends a hand session. |
| Toitsu
「対子」 |
A pair of identical tiles. |
| Toimen
「対面」 |
The player sitting directly across from you. |
| Ton
「東」 |
East wind tile. |
| Tonpuusen
「東風戦」 |
A game consisting of an East only round. |
| Tsumo
「自摸」 |
A self-drawn tile. Also short for Menzenchin tsumohou, or winning by self-draw. |
| Tsumokiri
「ツモ切り」 |
Discarding the tile that was just drawn. |
| Uma
「ウマ」 |
An additional end game score, calculated based on the ante, plus-minus adjustment, and game rank. |
| Ura dora
「裏ドラ」 |
Additional dora located underneath previously revealed dora indicators, which can be earned by winning with riichi. |
| Wanpai
「王牌」 |
The “dead” section of wall that can’t be used except for Dora indicators and Kan draws. |
| Wareme
「割れ目」 |
A rule that doubles any payment involving the player whose wall was broken at the start of a kyoku |
| Yakitori
「焼き鳥」 |
A penalty applied after a hanchan to players who did not win at least one hand |
| Yaku
「役」 |
A scoring pattern or condition in the hand that awards han, such as Tanyao or Toitoi. |
| Yama
「山」 |
The tile walls, literally means "mountains". |
| Yaochuuhai
「幺九牌」 |
All tiles numbered 1 and 9 (routouhai) plus characters (jihai). |
| Yasude
「安手」 |
A low scoring hand. |
| Yasume
「安目」 |
The specific tile(s) in a multiple wait that would produce the least points. Oppose of takame. |
| Zentsuppa
「全ツッパ」 |
A strategy that attempts to win a hand at all costs while ignoring the possibility of dealing into an opponent’s hand. |