Pung
A pung is a set of three identical tiles, which jokers may fill and which can be completed by calling a discard.
Kong
A kong is a set of four identical tiles, fillable with jokers and completable by calling a discard.
Quint
A quint is a set of five identical tiles. Except for flowers, a quint always needs at least one joker, because a set has only four of each suited tile, wind and dragon.
Pair
A pair is two identical tiles, and it is the one set a joker can never be part of.
Charleston
The Charleston is the passing ritual before play in which each player passes three tiles right, across, and left, with an optional second round and a courtesy pass.
Blind pass
A blind pass is passing along tiles you received without looking at them. It is allowed only on the last pass of each Charleston, the left pass that ends the first round and the right pass that ends the second.
Courtesy pass
The courtesy pass is an optional exchange of up to three tiles with the player across from you after the Charleston, where each of you names a number and the lower one is used.
Joker
A joker is a wild tile that can stand in for any tile inside a pung, kong, or quint, but never in a pair or as a single tile, so neither NEWS nor a year written in single tiles, like 2026, can ever hold one.
Joker exchange (also: redeeming a joker)
The joker exchange lets a player, on their own turn, swap the natural tile a joker represents for that joker in any exposed set on the table.
Jokerless
A jokerless hand is one completed with no jokers in it. Under League rules a jokerless win doubles every payment, except on a hand from the Singles and Pairs section, which can never hold a joker.
Calling
Calling is claiming the most recent discard to complete a pung, kong, quint, or your winning hand, and the window stays open until the next player racks the tile they drew or discards.
Exposure (also: exposed set)
An exposure is a completed set laid face up on top of your rack after calling a discard, visible to every player for the rest of the hand.
Meld (also: melded set)
Meld is the general mahjong word for a set of tiles that counts as one unit of a hand, such as a pung or a kong, and some players use it only for a set laid face up after calling a discard.
Concealed hand
A concealed hand is one the card requires to be completed entirely in your own rack, with no calling except for the final winning tile.
Dead hand
A dead hand is one that can no longer legally win, for example because of exposures that match no card line, exposures that fit only a concealed line, or the wrong number of tiles.
Wall
The wall is the four rows of face-down tiles, nineteen long and two high per player, that all draws come from during a hand.
Wall game
A wall game is a hand that ends with no winner because the wall ran out, and in which no money changes hands.
East
East is the dealer position, which starts with fourteen tiles, discards first, and passes to the right after every hand, whether or not East won.
Rack
A rack is the stand that holds a player's thirteen tiles upright and hidden, with exposed sets placed on top of it.
Soap (also: white dragon)
Soap is the white dragon tile, so called because its blank or framed face looks like a bar of soap, and it doubles as a zero on card lines that need one.
Suit
A suit is one of the three families of numbered tiles in a mahjong set, Craks, Bams and Dots, each running from one to nine with four copies of every number.
Craks (also: characters, wan)
Craks are the suit of tiles numbered one to nine that show a Chinese character for the number.
Bams (also: bamboo)
Bams are the suit of tiles numbered one to nine that show bamboo sticks, with the one bam usually drawn as a bird.
Dots (also: circles)
Dots are the suit of tiles numbered one to nine that show circles.
Flowers
Flowers are the eight decorative tiles in an American set, all interchangeable with each other, that certain card lines require as working tiles rather than bonuses.
Winds
The winds are the sixteen tiles marked north, east, west, and south, four of each, used as honor tiles in many card lines.
Dragons
The dragons are the twelve tiles in red, green, and white (soap), four of each, with each colour tied to one suit.
The card (also: NMJL card, Mah Jongg card)
The card is the annual sheet published by the National Mah Jongg League listing every hand that can win that year, reissued each April with new hands.
Mahjong (the call)
Declaring mahjong is announcing that your fourteen tiles exactly match a line on the current card, which ends the hand immediately.
Self-picked
A self-picked win is one where the winning tile was drawn from the wall rather than called from a discard, and under League rules all three opponents pay double.
Direction (also: category)
A hand's direction is the category of card hands it is closest to building, such as consecutive numbers, like numbers, evens, or winds and dragons.
Open rack (also: training wheels)
Playing with an open rack means a beginner plays with their tiles visible so the table can help between decisions.
Hot tile (also: dangerous tile)
A hot tile is a discard likely to complete an opponent's hand, judged from their exposures and from which tiles have not yet appeared on the table.
Safe tile (also: cold tile)
A safe tile is a discard that cannot complete any hand suggested by the exposures on the table, usually because all its copies are already visible or no exposed set can use it.
Table rules (also: house rules)
Table rules are the local agreements a group plays by on what League rules leave to the players, such as the stake and the pie, plus any League rule the group has chosen to play differently.
Picking ahead
Picking ahead is drawing your next tile from the wall before the player ahead of you has discarded, which speeds the game but removes the chance to call that discard.
Racking
Racking is placing a drawn tile into your rack among your own tiles, and it matters because once the next player has racked the tile they drew, or discarded, the previous discard can no longer be called.
Discard
A discard is the tile a player places face up in the centre after drawing, named aloud so that any player may call it.
Consecutive Run
Consecutive Run is the section of the card built from numbers in sequence, such as runs of four or five tiles climbing in one or more suits.
Chow (also: chi, sequence)
A chow is a run of three consecutive tiles in one suit, such as 3, 4 and 5 Bam, which Chinese and Japanese mahjong count as a set and American Mahjong does not.
2468 (also: evens)
2468 is the section of the card whose numbered tiles are all even, the twos, fours, sixes and eights, and its hands may also call for dragons or flowers.
13579 (also: odds)
13579 is the section of the card built from the odd numbers one, three, five, seven and nine, arranged in patterns of pungs, kongs and pairs.
369
369 is the section of the card built from the numbers three, six and nine, in patterns that combine them across one or more suits.
Winds and Dragons
Winds and Dragons is the section of the card whose hands are built mostly from the four winds and three dragons rather than from suit tiles.
Singles and Pairs
Singles and Pairs is the section of the card whose hands are made only of single tiles and pairs, so no joker can be used anywhere in them.
Year hand
The year hands are the section at the top of each year's card built from the digits of that year, and they change every year when the new card is issued.
Bettor
A bettor is a player sitting out at a table of five or six who, once the Charleston is done and before play begins, secretly bets on which player will declare mah jongg or on a wall game, and then collects or pays on that bet.
Pie
The pie is the fixed stake each player brings to the session, in coins or chips, and the most anyone can lose in an evening.
Misdeal
A misdeal is a deal in which a player ends up with the wrong number of tiles. Under League rules, a wrong count found before or during the Charleston means everyone throws their tiles in and the walls are built again.
Mah Jongg (also: mahjong, mah-jong, mahjongg)
Mah Jongg is the National Mah Jongg League's spelling of mahjong, and in the United States it usually signals the American game played with the League's yearly card.
Like Numbers
Like Numbers is the section of the card built around one number repeated across the suits, such as pungs or kongs of the same number in craks, bams and dots.
Charleston stop (also: stopping the Charleston, no second Charleston)
A Charleston stop is one player declining the optional second Charleston. Any single player may do it, and under the sanctioned tournament rules a stop holds until someone has racked a tile from the second Charleston's first pass. The first Charleston cannot be stopped, except by East holding a complete hand from the deal.