In this section you can find some of the most common terms used in the game of Mahjong.

• Bamboos - One of the three suits, sometimes bams 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.