Glossary

Words you'll hear at a Hong Kong table. Romanisation is Jyutping; the number after each syllable is its tone.

The game

麻雀maa4 zoek2: Mahjong. In Hong Kong the game is called 'sparrow', not 麻將 as in Mandarin.
牌paai4: A tile.
萬子maan6 zi2: Characters, the suit marked 萬 (ten thousand).
筒子tung4 zi2: Dots (circles).
索子sok3 zi2: Bamboo. The one of bamboo is usually a bird.
花faa1: Flower and season tiles. Set aside when drawn and replaced from the end of the wall.
莊家zong1 gaa1: The dealer, who sits East for that hand.
連莊lin4 zong1: The dealer keeps the deal, usually after winning or after a drawn hand.
圈hyun1: A round. The prevailing wind changes each round: East, South, West, North.
門風mun4 fung1: Your seat wind.
圈風hyun1 fung1: The prevailing (round) wind.

上soeng5: Claim a discard from the player on your left to make a chow.
碰pung3: Claim a discard to make a pung (three of a kind). Any player can pung.
槓gong3: A kong, four of a kind. You draw a replacement tile after declaring it.
明槓ming4 gong3: An exposed kong, made from a discard or by adding to an exposed pung.
暗槓am3 gong3: A concealed kong, all four drawn yourself and laid down with two tiles face down.
坎ham2: A concealed pung, drawn rather than claimed.
眼ngaan5: The pair in a winning hand, literally 'eyes'.
叫糊giu3 wu2: Ready: one tile away from winning.
海底hoi2 dai2: The last tiles of the wall. Winning on the very last one scores 海底撈月.
搶槓coeng2 gong3: Robbing the kong: winning on the tile someone adds to their exposed pung.

食糊sik6 wu2: Win. Said as you lay the hand down.
自摸zi6 mo2: Win on a tile you drew yourself. All three other players give up points.
出銃ceot1 cung3: Discard the tile someone wins on. In many games that player gives up most or all of the points.
番faan1: The scoring unit. Each pattern is worth some faan; the total sets the points.
三番起糊saam1 faan1 hei2 wu2: A three-faan minimum: hands worth less can't be declared. The most common Hong Kong setting, and where this site gets its name.
爆棚baau3 paang4: A hand that reaches the table limit.
雞糊gai1 wu2: Chicken hand: a win worth no faan at all. Only allowed at tables with no minimum.
番子faan1 zi2: A pung of dragons, 1 faan each.
正花zing3 faa1: A flower or season numbered for your seat.
半辣bun3 laat6: Half-spicy: points double every faan up to 4, then every two faan.
全辣cyun4 laat6: Full-spicy: points double with every faan.
全銃cyun4 cung3: The discarder alone gives up all the points for the win.
半銃bun3 cung3: The discarder gives up half the points and the other two players a quarter each.
包baau1: Liability: a player whose discard let someone complete a big hand takes the whole loss for the table. The details vary a lot by table.
截糊zit6 wu2: When two players can win on the same discard, the one next in turn takes it.
詐糊zaa3 wu2: A false win: declaring a hand that isn't complete. Usually costs the player points.