Mahjong Terminology: A Bilingual Glossary

Every term you need — chi, pon, kan, riichi, tsumo, ron, furiten, tenpai and more — explained in plain language with the Chinese and Japanese terms.

Call actions

Chi (吃): take a discard to complete a sequence. Pon (碰): take a discard for a triplet. Kan (杠): declare four of a kind, which draws a replacement tile. These calls open your hand and usually lower your score ceiling.

Winning and waiting

Tsumo (自摸): win on your own draw. Ron (荣和/ロン): win on a discard. Tenpai (听牌): one tile away from winning. Riichi (立直): declaring ready on a closed hand for the chance at extra points.

Defense terms

Furiten (振听): you discarded a winning tile, so you cannot ron. Genbutsu: a tile your opponent already discarded — completely safe. Suuji (筋): tiles one rank away from discards, safer than average. This site shows furiten and tenpai status in the sidebar.

Related tutorial

🀄 Riichi Mahjong Tutorial

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