Filipino mahjóng 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.

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

Beauty: a báhay in Bisaya mahjong consisting of one of each color tile (red, green, and white).

Búnot: literally to draw a tile, but if somebody is yelling it then they might have just won with a tile drawn directly from the wall, worth double the payout.

Chow: a báhay 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.

Color tile: one of the three honor tiles also referred to as “dragons” in American mahjong.

Escaléra: 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).

Flower: one of several bonus tiles that may award special points or payment. Flowers are not used for building a winning hand, and must be replaced from the flower wall.

Gift: an extra tile drawn from the flower wall whenever a four-tile báhay is declared (kang, secret, sagása, NEWS).

International: a special form of syete pares, with 7 pairs and a pong.

Kang: a báhay consisting of four identical tiles (same value and same suit). Similar to pong, a discarded tile can be seized to complete a kang at any time.

Mahjongéro: someone who plays mahjong.

Máno: the dealer. The first máno is selected by rolling dice. If the máno wins, they will be máno again. Otherwise, the next person counterclockwise becomes the máno.

NEWS: a báhay in Bisaya mahjong consisting of all four winds. NEWS must be declared face-up, and a gift must be drawn from the flower wall.

Pong: a báhay 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.

Sagása: a kang formed by promoting an exposed pong with a self-drawn tile.

Secret: a concealed kang, formed from four identical tiles that were all drawn from the wall. In order to count as a valid bahay, the existence of the secret must be declared, and a gift must be taken from the flower wall.

Syete pares: an alternative winning configuration, consisting of 7 pairs and one báhay.

Thirteen flowers: an ambition consisting of any thirteen flowers. Also, another name for Filipino Mahjong, to differentiate it from Bisaya Mahjong which only has eight flowers.

Tódas: generally refers to any winning hand, but when contrasted with búnot, it can refer to winning with a tile discarded by another player.

Waiting: needing only one more tile to win.