Common terms used throughout our guide to Hong Kong Old Style Mahjong. Chinese-origin words use Cantonese pronunciation.
- Pong 碰
- Three matching tiles of any suit, wind, or dragon. Pong is "to hit", same word as Ping Pong!
- Gong 槓
- Four matching tiles of any suit, wind, or dragon.
- Chee 黐
- Three numbered tiles in sequence from the same suit.
- Calling Hand
- A hand that needs only one more tile to win.
- Sik Wú! 食糊
- Going out by completing a winning hand.
- Clear Hand
- A hand composed entirely of one suit.
- Self Draw 自摸 (jih mō)
- Drawing the winning tile from the wall instead of a discard.
- Pieces
- Another name for the tiles used to play Mahjong.
- Prevailing Wind
- The wind shown on the indicator. It changes only after the deal returns to the starting dealer.
- Starting Dealer
- The first dealer at the beginning of the game.
- Seat Wind
- The wind assigned to a player’s seat relative to the dealer, whose seat is East.
- Discard
- The most recently discarded tile. Earlier discards are “dead” and cannot be claimed.
- Wall
- The stacked, unused tiles. Tiles are normally drawn clockwise from the wall; the replacement tile drawn after a kong comes from the opposite end.
- Round of Play
- The period in which every player has been the dealer at least once—a minimum of four hands.