American Mahjong Glossary
American mahjong uses a compact vocabulary for equipment, passing, turns, card patterns, and rule decisions. Learning the terms makes table instructions predictable and helps beginners ask precise questions.
Essential table terms
- Annual card
- The current printed list of legal winning hands.
- Call
- Claiming the most recent discard for a legal exposure or mahjong.
- Charleston
- The structured passing sequence after the deal.
- Courtesy pass
- An optional final exchange between opposite players.
- Dead hand
- A hand disqualified by an incorrect exposure, wrong tile count, or another rule violation.
- Discard
- A tile placed face up in the center at the end of a turn.
- Exposure
- A completed group displayed face up after a legal call.
- Honor tile
- A wind or dragon.
- Joker exchange
- Replacing an exposed joker with its matching natural tile.
- Mahjong
- A complete legal hand matching one line on the current card.
- Natural tile
- The actual printed tile rather than a joker substitute.
- Rack
- The stand holding concealed tiles and exposures.
- Wall
- The stacked face-down tiles from which players draw.
Card-reading terms
- Concealed
- A hand that must not contain exposures during play.
- Exposed
- A hand that may contain legal called groups.
- Like numbers
- The same number used across different suits.
- Consecutive run
- A pattern using neighboring numbers such as 3-4-5.
- Matching dragon
- Red with craks, green with bams, or white with dots.
Easy-to-confuse terms
Draw versus call
A draw comes privately from the wall. A call claims the most recent discard.
Pair versus pung
A pair has two natural matching tiles. A pung has three identical tiles and may use jokers.
Wall versus rack
The wall supplies tiles; the rack holds a player’s hand.
Language to practice
- Name every discard clearly.
- Say the group name before reaching for a discard.
- Use “mahjong” only when the hand is complete.
- Describe exposures by tile and size.
- Ask whether a hand is concealed before calling.
Terminology questions
Is mahjong the same as Mah Jongg?
The spellings are often used for the same game family; American organizations commonly use “Mah Jongg.”
What does NEWS mean?
It is shorthand for North, East, West, and South winds.
What is a hot wall?
Some social groups apply house rules to the final portion of the wall. Confirm local procedure before play.