The following is a list of terms associated to Japanese mahjong. While it is certainly not necessary to know the Japanese terminology to the game, a player should at least be able to identify a terms reference when used or applied. However, players are highly encouraged to know the yaku by Japanese name, especially when it comes to the chanting a winning hand composition.
- The player assigned as East, the east seat-wind player.
- The other three players, with South being to the right of the dealer; West, across; North to the left.
All calls make the meld open and the player's hand to be open.
- Call on a discard to complete a run.
- Call on a discard to make a quad.
- Call on a discard to complete a triplet.
- Declare a bet of ready.
Both of these terms apply at the end of an exhaustive draw; otherwise, remain uncalled until then.
- Declare a hand is not ready.
- Declare a hand is ready.
- General declaration of a win.
- Declare a win off a discard tile or a kan tile. Ron doesn't make the player's hand open, but it does make a set completed by the ronned tile to be open.
- Declare a win with a self-drawn tile.
- Also a term used for any drawn tile.
- Any condition, aside from chombo, which ends the hand prematurely
- State of the hand when all tiles, apart from the dead wall, are drawn and resulted in no winner
- A single game of Japanese mahjong, composed of East-South rounds.
- A single hand of mahjong, in which the wind seating does not rotate due to the dealer winning or ended the hand in tenpai
Ankō (ankou) or an-kōtsu (an-koutsu)
- A closed meld of triplets.
- Bonus tiles which increases a hand's han count.
- A meld of quads.
- The meld. A principle in rummy, where a group of 3-tiles form a set of same suit sequences or triplets. Quads also count as a meld, functioning as a triplet plus one extra.
Minkō (minkou) or min-kōtsu (min-koutsu)
- An open meld of triplets.
- The count on the number of tiles needed to reach tenpai.
- A sequential meld.
- Specific tiles waiting based on the "octaves" of 1-4-7, 2-5-8, or 3-6-9.
- Hand is waiting on one more tile either by draw or discard for completion.
- A pair of tiles.
- The composition pattern and/or luck situation of a mahjong hand. See Mahjong yaku.
- "Minipoints". A value based on the individual melds
- A combined value on the total yaku with dora, if applicable. Due to dora, yaku equates to han, but han may not necessarily equate to yaku.
- The number of consecutive hands, in which a winner is not produced. It may also include the number of times a dealer wins consecutively.
- Scoring sticks.
Terminology list Extensive list of terminology in Osamuko.