Discover & Learn the Game

04/4/25
LESSON 8 
Mahjong Glossary

Chow: A run of 3 consecutive tiles in the same suit

Mixed chow: A run of 3 consecutive tiles in each suit

Charleston: A phase at the beginning of each round where players exchange tiles with each other to improve their hands (at the discretion of the East player):
Round 1:
1st pass: 3 tiles across
2nd pass: E/W 3 tiles to their right & N/S 3 tiles to their left
3rd pass: E/W 3 tiles to their left & N/S 3 tiles to their right
Round 2:
1st pass: 1 tile across
2nd pass: E/W 1 tile to their right & N/S 1 tile to their left
3rd pass: E/W 1 tile to their left & N/S 1 tile to their right
East can continue the 1 tile pass for Round 3 & 4 after which, no more exchanges are allowed

Concealed: A Pung,Chow or Kong collected in the hand with tiles from the wall rather than from the discard

Discard: Place an unwanted tile face up on the table in the middle of the playing area, saying out loud what it is. Players must discard one tile each in turn unless going Mahjong

Dragon Tiles: Three special tiles representing red, green and white dragons

Exposed: A pung, chow or kong claimed from another player’s discard and displayed for all to see in front of the player him/herself

Fishing: When player needs one more tile (14th tile) for Mahjong – player must declare ‘fishing’

Flower tiles: Special tiles composed of 4 flowers or 4 seasons that are not used in gameplay but offer the player a chance to pick up a tile from the flower box. Some special hands use these tiles to form sets but no replacement tile can be picked up in exchange

Goulash: When no-one goes Mahjong, a ‘Goulash’ is played by putting in 4 Joker tiles. 

Honour Tiles: Winds and Dragons tiles

Joker: A special tile that can be used as a substitute for any other tile to complete a set or run. In International Mahjong, jokers are added during a Goulash game

Kong: A group of 4 tiles of the same suit with the same number on each

Mahjong: A completed winning hand made up of 14 tiles aka as Sparrow (Cantonese for Sparrow is Maazoek)

Prevailing Wind: Wind of the Round. Always East First

Pung: A set of 3 identical tiles in one suit

Mixed Pung: A set of 3 tiles in 3 suits with the same number in each suit

Tile Precedence: Two players require the same discarded tile, claim to a discard follows these priorities:

1. A player requiring that tile to go Mahjong has first claim

2. To form a Pung/Kong has precedence over Chow

3. If two players require the same tile to win/P/K, the player next in turn claims the tile

Twittering: Shuffling the tiles – sometimes called ‘Twittering of Sparrows’ because of the noise made. Also called ‘washing the tiles’ - mixing the tiles up before Wind of the Round calls ‘Pow’

Wind of the Round: Always starts with East Wind. If East wind goes Mahjong he/she keeps it. If someone else goes Mahjong the Wind moves round one place anti clockwise. When each player has been East Wind, South Wind becomes Wind of the Round, and so on

Wind Tiles: Four special tiles representing East South West North winds (Eat Soup With Noodles)

Winning tile: The final tile needed to complete a hand to enable the player to go Mahjong

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