Glossary
Mahjong Tiles and Terms
Last reviewed July 3, 2026
A mahjong set is built from a few kinds of tile: three numbered suits, the winds and dragons that carry no number, and a handful of bonus tiles. Learn these and you can read any table.
Bamboo (Bams)
The bamboo suit, tiao or suo, runs one through nine. The sticks are strings of rope that once tied a hundred Chinese coins together through their square holes.
The One Bamboo is traditionally drawn as a bird, usually a sparrow or peacock, a nod to the game's old name, the sparrow game.
Circles (Dots)
The circle suit, tong or bing, runs one through nine. Each circle is an ancient Chinese copper coin, the round cash with a square hole.
Also called dots, wheels, or coins; the suit that ties mahjong directly to old Chinese money.
Characters (Craks)
The character suit, wan, runs one through nine. Each tile shows its number above the character for ten thousand, 萬.
Also called craks or myriads; the only suit whose value is written rather than drawn.
The four winds
The winds name the four directions and seat the players around the table. East deals, and the wind that prevails sets the round.
The three dragons
The honor tiles at the heart of many hands: red zhong, the center and the bullseye; green fa, to prosper; and the white dragon, classically a blank framed in blue.
Flowers and seasons
Eight bonus tiles, set aside when drawn for a bonus and a replacement draw: the four flowers and the four seasons. The Japanese game leaves them out.
The joker
Not a Chinese tile at all but an American addition: a wild that stands in for a tile inside a group of three or more. A standard American set has eight. How jokers work.
The tiles here are our own schematic drawings, not photographs of any one set. Faces vary between makers; the meanings do not.
Terms every player uses
The words that come up at the table. A few are Chinese in origin and carry over to every game; others belong to one style, noted where they do.
Sets and hands
- Pair (the eyes)
- Two identical tiles. Almost every winning hand is built around a single pair.
- Pung (碰 peng)
- A set of three identical tiles.
- Kong (槓 gang)
- A set of four identical tiles. Declaring one earns a replacement draw, since it holds a tile more than a pung.
- Chow (吃 chi)
- A run of three consecutive tiles in one suit. Central to the Chinese, Hong Kong, and Japanese games, but not the American one, where hands follow the card.
- Quint (American)
- A set of five identical tiles, possible only with jokers. A few hands on the annual card call for them.
- Exposure (American)
- A set you complete by claiming a discard and lay face-up on your rack for the table to see, while the rest of your hand stays hidden.
- Meld (also: set)
- Any completed group, a pair, pung, kong, or chow, that counts toward a hand.
The table and gear
- Wall
- The tiles stacked two high in a square to start the game. It is the draw pile, and it gives the game its shape.
- Dead wall (Japanese)
- A fixed-length stretch held back from the wall for replacement tiles and the dora indicators.
- Rack
- The ledge that holds your tiles upright and angled toward you.
- Pusher
- The long bar used to push the built wall into the center, within everyone's reach. Common in American play.
- Bettor (American)
- An optional fifth player who bets on which of the four seated players will win, without playing a hand.
Play and calls
- Charleston (American)
- The opening ritual of passing three tiles right, across, and left, and sometimes back, before play begins. The Charleston.
- Discard
- The tile you set out face-up to end your turn, where another player may claim it.
- Call (also: claim)
- To take another player's discard to complete a set, rather than drawing from the wall.
- Mahjong
- The winning declaration, made when the tile you draw or claim completes your hand.
- Wall game
- A hand that ends with no winner because the last tile is drawn and no one has declared mahjong.
Kinds of tile
- Suits
- The three numbered families that run one through nine: dots, bams, and craks.
- Honors
- The tiles that carry no number: the four winds and the three dragons.
- Simples and terminals
- Among the numbers, 2 through 8 are simples; the 1s and 9s are terminals, which many hands treat specially.
- Jokers (American)
- Eight wild tiles that stand in within a set of three or more. Not a Chinese tile at all. How jokers work.
Scoring and other games
- The card (American)
- The National Mah Jongg League's annual list of the legal hands, reissued every year and needed to play. This year's card.
- Faan (Hong Kong; also: fan)
- The points a hand earns from its patterns. Most tables set a minimum faan a hand must reach to win.
- Riichi (Japanese)
- The bet a player declares on a concealed hand that sits one tile from winning. The riichi game.
- Dora (Japanese)
- Bonus tiles that add value to a winning hand, including the red fives found in most modern sets.
Sources
- Mahjong tiles, Wikipedia (suits, winds, dragons, and their characters).
- Mahjong, Wikipedia (pung, kong, chow, and the wall).
- Mah-Jongg FAQs, Tom Sloper (American terms: exposures, quints, the card, the bettor).
- Japanese mahjong, Wikipedia (riichi, dora, and the dead wall).