American mahjong glossary
Checked and updated October 31, 2026
- Bam
- A tile from the bamboo suit.
- Blind pass
- On the last pass of each Charleston, passing on tiles you just received without looking at them.
- Card
- The yearly list of winning hands published by the National Mah Jongg League.
- Charleston
- The series of tile swaps after the deal and before the first discard.
- Concealed hand
- A hand that must be completed entirely on your rack, with no exposed groups.
- Courtesy pass
- An optional swap of 0 to 3 tiles with the player across, after the Charleston.
- Crak
- A tile from the character suit.
- Dead hand
- A hand that can no longer win, usually after a wrong exposure or a false Mah Jongg. The player keeps discarding but cannot win.
- Dot
- A tile from the circle suit. Also called a circle or ball.
- Dragon
- One of the red, green or white honor tiles. Each matches a suit: red with craks, green with bams, white with dots.
- East
- The dealer, who starts with 14 tiles and discards first.
- Exposure
- A group of tiles laid face up on your rack after calling a discard.
- Flower
- One of 8 tiles that all count as the same tile.
- Joker
- A tile that can stand in for any tile in a group of three or more identical tiles.
- Kong
- A group of four identical tiles.
- Mah Jongg
- What you call when you complete a hand from the card and win.
- Pung
- A group of three identical tiles.
- Pusher
- The arm attached to a rack, used to push your wall forward.
- Quint
- A group of five identical tiles. Possible only with jokers.
- Rack
- The stand that holds your tiles out of sight of other players.
- Sextet
- A group of six identical tiles. Possible only with jokers.
- Soap
- The white dragon. It can also stand for a zero in year hands.
- Wall
- The rows of face-down tiles that players draw from.
- Wall game
- A game where the wall runs out before anyone wins. Nobody pays.
Common questions
What is a pung in mahjong?
Three identical tiles. A kong is four, a quint is five and a sextet is six. Quints and sextets need jokers or flowers.
What does soap mean in mahjong?
Soap is the white dragon. It goes with the dots suit and is also used as a zero in year hands.
What is NEWS in mahjong?
North, East, West and South: one of each wind, written as NEWS on the card.
What is an exposure?
A group of tiles you have called from a discard and laid face up on your rack, so everyone can see it.
What is a hot tile?
A tile that is likely to give another player Mah Jongg if you discard it, judging from their exposures.
What is a dead hand?
A hand that can no longer win, for example because its exposures do not match any hand on the card. The player keeps drawing and discarding but cannot declare Mah Jongg.