Every common Mahjong term on one page, each with a plain explanation and an example, linked back to the beginner lessons.
Use this as a picture dictionary. Start with Lesson 1 for tiles and turns, then consult: Optional illustrated mahjong reference。Riichi-specific terms are not universal mahjong rules.
Hand, wall, draw and discard
Your hand contains the tiles you are arranging. The wall is the supply. Drawing adds one tile; discarding removes one into your discard area, sometimes called the river. Do not count discarded White Dragon as still in your hand.Your hand and the discard area are different places. Partial illustration.
Characters 2-3-4 are a sequence: consecutive ranks in one suit. Three five-dots are a triplet. Two East tiles are a pair; the final pair in a standard hand is also called its head. The term does not refer to a chess piece.Look for identical tiles and consecutive ranks; judge each box separately.
A ready hand needs one suitable tile to complete its shape. In this example four sequences are complete, leaving a lone East. Another East makes the pair: a single-tile pair wait. The waiting tile is not part of your current thirteen.Find four sets of three. The lone East needs another East to make a pair.
Self-draw describes where the finishing tile came from. Drawing any tile is not a win. Starting with the thirteen-tile East wait above, you draw East and form the pair. Keep the finishing tile separate while checking the result.Follow the source: your own draw completes the hand.
Ron and dealing in: an opponent supplies the last tile
Use the same East wait, but an opponent now discards East. If eligible and not barred from ron, you may declare a discard win. You cannot pick an arbitrary old discard, nor call pung first and then declare ron.The same wait, but East comes from an opponent’s new discard.
With characters 2 and 3, chow a just-discarded 4 from the previous player, not from the opposite player. With two five-dots, pung another player’s new five-dot. Expose the group and discard from the rest without an ordinary draw.The source of the tile matters.
Before chow: your tiles
Characters 2Characters 3
Previous player discards 4 → chow
Characters 2Characters 3Characters 4
Expose the set, then discard; no ordinary draw.
Before pung: your pair
Dots 5Dots 5
Opponent discards 5 → pung
Dots 5Dots 5Dots 5
Kong: four identical tiles
Bamboo 7Bamboo 7Bamboo 7Bamboo 7
One set, with a replacement draw; not four consecutive ranks.
Closed means you have not used open calls to make exposed groups. Those exposed groups are melds. Standing your tiles upright or arranging them neatly does not make a hand closed. Hidden tiles are visible in the illustration only for teaching.Hidden tiles are shown for teaching; opponents cannot see a closed hand.
Riichi is a Japanese-mahjong declaration, not a rule shared by every variant. With a closed ready hand, declare it on your turn, discard while retaining the wait and place a 1,000-point deposit. From a teaching score of 30,000, 29,000 remains and 1,000 is on the table; this is scoring, not a cash purchase.Discard the surplus South and keep these 13 waiting on East. Riichi is not a win.
A yaku is a recognised winning pattern or condition in riichi. Ordinary wins require at least one. A Red Dragon triplet can provide a dragon yaku, but the rest of the hand still needs completion. A Red Dragon pair does not provide that triplet yaku.This Red Dragon triplet can supply a yaku. The rest of the hand must still be complete.
The exposed four-dot is the indicator; five-dot is the dora. Two five-dots in your hand mean two copies. Numbered indicators advance within the same suit, wrapping nine to one. Honours use their own cycles.The exposed indicator is not the dora itself: four dots indicates five dots.
Furiten: a matching discard may still be unavailable
Furiten restricts ron in riichi. You now wait on East, but previously discarded East yourself. You cannot ron an opponent’s East; hiding the old discard or having it called away does not erase that history. An otherwise legal self-draw remains possible.Only East completes this hand, but you previously discarded East. Check your whole discard history.
Current wait
East
Your earlier discards
Dots 9EastWhite Dragon
Opponent’s East: no ron; own draw: tsumo may be legal
If the live wall runs out without a win, the hand ends in an exhaustive draw. Being one tile away is not a win. The illustrated thirteen wait on East, but you cannot add an imagined East to the result.At wall exhaustion, this hand still waits on East: ready, not already won.