Bamboos
One of the three suits, usually bamboo or sticks
Bonus Tiles
Flower or Season tile
Characters
One of the three suits, sometimes called cracks
Chicken Hand
A hand without points
China Jade
A hand composed entirely of green tiles
Chow
Three tiles of the same suit in sequence or knitted
Circles
One of the three suits, sometimes called coins or dots
Concealed
A tile or tiles drawn from the wall and not exposed
Discard
A rejected tile which may be claimed by another player
Dispersed Kong
A hand with four identical suit tiles other than in a kong
Exposed
A face-up tile, part of a set or a discard
Family Hand
A hand composed or the three suits, dragons and winds
Flower Tile
Bonus Tile
Going Mahjong
Declaring a hand worth eight points or more
Going Out
Going Mahjong
Head
The pair of tiles necessary in most hand to go out
Honours
Dragon and wind tiles
Knitted Tiles
Tiles 1-4-7, 2-5-8 and 3-6-9 in different suits
Kong
Set of four identical tiles
Major Tiles
Honours and terminals
Matchin Chows
Two matching chows in different suits
Meld
A set
Nine Gates
A single suit hand in which any tile of the same suit completes the hand
Progressive Chows
Chows stepped up one or two digits
Progressive Pungs
Pungs stepped up one digit
Pung
Set of three identical tiles
Reversible Tiles
Tiles that have the same appearance when inverted
Self-Drawn
A tile drawn from the wall
Sequence
Set of suit tiles in numerical order
Set
Chow, pung or kong
Simples
Suit tiles other than terminals
Stepped
Chows separated by one or two numbers
Terminals
Tiles one and nine of the three suits
Thirteen Orphans
A hand composed of one each of every major tile, one tile paired
Twin Chows
Two identical chows in the same suit
Void Suit
A hand lacking tiles of one suit
Wall
Tiles assembled face down at the start of the game
Wind, Own
Wind corresponding to the player's seat
Wind, Prevailing
The wind of the round
Wind, Seat
Wind corresponding to the player's seat