Filipino mahjong has a lot of technical terms and synonyms for those terms. This glossary will be updated as needed. If we use a term in one of our posts that you need defined, please let us know in the comments.

Ambition: a special combination of tiles that receives a special payout. Sometimes these payouts are made immediately upon declaration, and sometimes they are only paid at the end if that player wins.

Bahay: a valid combination of three or four tiles, also known as a meld.

Beauty: a bahay in Bisaya mahjong consisting of a dagger, green, and window (one of each dragon).

Bunot: winning with a tile drawn directly from the wall.

Chow: a bahay consisting of three tiles of the same suit in a sequence, e.g., 3 char, 4 char, and 5 char. A discarded tile can be seized to complete a chow only during the player’s turn. I.e., it can only be seized if it is discarded by the player to the left.

Escalera: an ambition consisting of nine tiles in ascending value from 1 to 9 of the same suit.

Eye: a pair of identical tiles (same value and same suit).

International: a special form of siete pares, with 7 pairs and a pung.

Mahjongero: someone who plays mahjong.

NEWS: a bahay in Bisaya mahjong consisting of all four winds.

Pung: a bahay consisting of three identical tiles (same value and same suit). A discarded tile can be seized to complete a pong any time even if it is not the player’s turn, and has priority over chow.

Siete pares: an alternative winning configuration, consisting of 7 pairs and one bahay.

Thirteen flowers: an ambition consisting of thirteen flowers.

Todas: winning with a tile discarded by another player.

Waiting: needing only one more tile to win.