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.

A

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Agari 「和がり」 Win Generic term 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 dora Red tiles that count as Dora. Usually fives, but not always. An 「暗」 Closed, concealed Means "dark", refers to tiles that are concealed in the hand. Anjun 「暗順」 Concealed sequence 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」 Concealed kan 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」 Concealed triplet 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 Safe tile, or tiles not subject to agari (to be called as winning tiles). Aotenjou 「青天井」 No capping 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」 In effect, on 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」 Pair, eye The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also "jantou". Atozuke 「先付け」 After-attach 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.

B

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Ba 「場」 Wind round A “wind round”, e.g. tonba (east round) or nanba (south round). Bakaze 「場風」 Round wind Round wind. Barai 「払い」 Payment 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」 Full defense A strategy that focuses entirely on avoiding dealing into opponents’ hands, with no intention of developing one’s own hand.

C

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Chakan 「加槓」 Added kan 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.

D

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Daburon 「ダブロン」 Double ron A rule that allows two people to Ron the same tile. Daiminkan 「大明槓」 Open kan A kan formed with possession of three tile types, and calling on the discarded fourth tile. Damaten 「黙聴」 Hidden tenpai Tenpai without calling riichi. Dejitaru 「デジタル」 Digital A school of thought focused on the outcome of a game, explained by probability and statistics. Dorahyouji 「ドラ表示」 Dora indicator The flipped tile on the dead wall, indicating the dora.

E

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

F

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Fu 「符」 Mini-points A unit used to measure the hand's score, based on meld and wait composition. Furikomi 「振り込み」 Payment A payment, also “barai”. Furiten 「振聴」 Sacred discard 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」 Base fu The 20 base Fu used when calculating score, given by default rather than from composition.

G

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Genbutsu 「現物」 Safe tile A 100% safe tile.

H

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Haipai 「配牌」 Start hand The players' dealt tiles at the beginning of a hand. Haiteihai 「海底牌」 Last draw The last drawable tile in the wall. Haiyama 「牌山」 Wall The walls from which tiles are drawn. Han 「飜」 The hand value count based on yaku value and/or dora. Hanchan 「半荘」 Full East-South game 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」 Deal in To deal into a hand. Houra 「和了」 To win a hand Houteihai 「河底牌」 Last discard The very last discarded tile for a hand.

I

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Iichan 「一荘」 4 round game 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」 Pair The pair in a standard mahjong hand. Also named “atama”.

J

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

K

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

L

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

M

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Minjun 「」 Open sequence 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.

N

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Naki 「鳴き」 Calling a discarded tile. Nan 「南」 South South Nashi 「なし,ナシ,無し」 Invalid, off 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」 Noten penalty 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」 Extracted dora A tile that counts as Dora when extracted from the hand, e.g. flower tiles or the Pei (North) in most three-player variants.

O

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

P

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation 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.

Q

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

R

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

S

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Shuntsu 「」 Sequence 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. ' 「」

T

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

U

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Ura dora 「裏ドラ」 Underneath dora Additional dora located underneath previously revealed dora indicators, which can be earned by winning with riichi.

V

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

W

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation 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

X

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation ' 「」

Y

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Yakitori 「焼き鳥」 Winless game A penalty applied to players, who failed to win a hand Yaku 「役」 Hand pattern A scoring pattern in the hand that awards Han, such as Tanyao or Toitoi. Yaochuuhai 「幺九牌」 All tiles numbered 1 and 9 (routouhai) plus characters (jihai).

Z

Japanese	Kanji	English	Explanation Zentsuppa 「全ツッパ」 All out A strategy that attempts to win a hand at all costs while ignoring the possibility of dealing into an opponent’s hand.

External links

Terminology list at Osamuko