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Word file #008RisingStories & games

What does mahjong mean?

麻将májiàng

Say itmah-JONG/mɑːˈdʒɒŋ/noun

Character by character
  1. 麻máhemp
  2. 将jiànggeneral (here, sound)

A tile game from China, usually for four players, in which players draw and throw away tiles until one completes a winning hand.

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

Mahjong is a tile game from China, usually for four players. Players draw and throw away tiles until one of them completes a winning hand [1]. You meet it at family gatherings, in Chinese and Hong Kong films and dramas, in game apps, and more and more at game nights. News stories describe a comeback among younger players who want a reason to meet offline. In English, the word can also mean the American version, or, casually, a one-player tile-matching game on phones and computers.

English speakers say mah-JONG. The Mandarin word is 麻将 májiàng (traditional 麻將). Má has a rising tone and jiàng has a falling one, so it sounds closer to “mah-jyahng” than to “mah-jong.” 麻 má means “hemp,” and 将 jiàng is there mostly for its sound. The game’s first name was 麻雀 máquè, “sparrow,” and májiàng grew out of that name [2]. English spells it mahjong, mah-jongg, or mah jong. It is a neutral word, fine in any setting.

Word stats

Known in English
Most English speakers have heard of it. Fewer could tell you how to win a hand.
Said in China today
麻将 is an everyday word in China for the same game. Cantonese speakers say 麻雀 instead.
Polite
It is just the name of a game, so it is safe anywhere. Taking forever to throw away a tile is another matter.
Freshness
It has been in English for about a hundred years, and more people look it up every year as new players join the table.

Spotted in the wild

Group chat · Friday, 7:40 pm
  1. Mayamahjong at mine tonight? i finally bought a set
  2. Youi’m in but i only know the phone game
  3. Leothat’s matching pairs, not mahjong lol
  4. Mayawe’ll teach you. we need a fourth anyway

What it means here: Maya means the real four-player tile game. The phone game is mahjong solitaire, which only borrows the tiles.

Comments under a post
  1. Priyafirst night at my aunt’s mahjong group. why does everyone have a card and why are there jokers??
  2. Danathat’s american mahjong! different rules from the chinese game
  3. Priyamy grandpa would be so confused right now

What it means here: Here mahjong means American mahjong, the version with score cards and jokers.

Text with Mom · Saturday, 11:05 am
  1. Momauntie lin is coming at 2 to 搓麻将. you’re our fourth
  2. Youmom i have plans
  3. Momshe’s bringing dumplings
  4. You…what time again

What it means here: Mom writes 搓麻将 (cuō májiàng, “rub mahjong”), an everyday way to say “play mahjong”; 搓 is the rubbing motion of hands mixing the tiles.

How to use it

  • play mahjongMy grandparents play mahjong every Sunday afternoon.
  • a game / round of mahjongWe had time for one more round of mahjong before dinner.
  • a mahjong set / mahjong tilesShe found an old mahjong set in the attic, with every tile still there.
  • mahjong night / mahjong groupOur office started a mahjong night, and it is already more popular than the book club.
  • a fourth for mahjongThey always call me when they need a fourth for mahjong.

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds offLet’s play a mahjong.

    Say thisLet’s play mahjong. / Let’s play a game of mahjong.

    Like chess, mahjong is the name of a game, so it does not take “a” on its own.

  • Sounds offMahjong is thousands of years old; Confucius invented it.

    Say thisMahjong took shape in China in the late 1800s.

    The first mahjong guidebook, from 1914, places the game’s birth about thirty years earlier. Stories about an ancient inventor are legends.

  • Sounds offReading 麻将 as májiāng, with a flat tone on 将

    Say thismájiàng, with a falling tone on 将

    将 is read jiāng in words like “will,” but in 麻将 it is jiàng, the falling tone.

  • Sounds offTelling a Chinese friend “I play mahjong every day” when you mean the phone matching game

    Say this“I play mahjong solitaire every day.”

    To most Chinese speakers, 麻将 is the four-player game, so they will picture you at a full table every day.

mahjong or not?

Is each of these mahjong? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. Four friends draw and throw away tiles until one of them completes a winning hand.

  2. You tap matching pairs of tiles on your phone until the board is empty.

  3. Players at a table use score cards and play with jokers.

  4. Players line up rectangular tiles end to end, matching the dots.

The mahjong family

  • 麻雀 máquè“Sparrow”: the game’s original name, still used in Cantonese and many southern varieties.The bird came first. The game just never gave the name back.
  • American mahjongA version played in the US with score cards, eight jokers, and its own rules.Same tiles, plus a few jokers who play by their own rules.
  • riichi mahjongThe Japanese version of the game, written 麻雀 and read mājan.The version you are most likely to meet in anime and video games.

Where it came from

  1. 1914Shen Yifan publishes Illustrated Mahjong Guide, called the first mahjong guidebook. He writes that the game was born about thirty years earlier, in Ningbo. Fujian is also claimed as the birthplace [2].
  2. 1920The first known use of the word in English, according to Merriam-Webster, which traces it to Mah-Jongg, a trademark [1].
  3. Early 1920sMahjong becomes a craze in the United States and Europe. Joseph P. Babcock’s rule book, The Red Book, makes the game simpler for Americans and helps it spread in the West [3].
  4. TodayIn China, 麻将 is an everyday pastime. In English, the word is on the rise again as younger players take up the game.

Mahjong in English vs. 麻将 in Chinese

At heart, both words name the same game. English stretches the word a little further than Chinese does.

PointEnglish mahjongChinese 麻将
Main meaningThe tile game, usually for four playersThe tile game, and also its tiles
Also meansAmerican mahjong; casually, the one-player tile-matching gamePlain 麻将 means the real game
Spellings and namesmahjong, mah-jongg, mah jong麻将 (traditional 麻將); Cantonese and many southern varieties say 麻雀
FeelingA fun, slightly old-fashioned hobby that is back in styleAn everyday pastime at family tables and with neighbors

American mahjong is its own branch of the game. It uses score cards, eight all-purpose tiles called jokers, and several rules the Chinese game does not have [3]. A player raised on the Chinese game might sit down at an American table and ask why everyone is holding a card.

The name. The original Chinese name was 麻雀 máquè, “sparrow.” Mandarin, Shanghainese, and Sichuanese now say 麻将 májiàng, which grew out of 麻雀 as a softer, nasal form of the same name [2]. So 将 does not mean “bird.” On its own it means “general” (the army officer). Cantonese still says 麻雀 (maa4 zoek3), and Japanese writes the game 麻雀 too, read mājan. There are two stories about why a game was named after a bird. One says the sound of shuffling tiles is like sparrows chattering. The other says the name grew out of an older card game called Madiao [2]. Neither has been proven.

The spelling. Merriam-Webster’s main entry is mah-jongg, with mahjong as a second spelling, and it traces the English word to Mah-Jongg, a trademark [1]. Today, mahjong is the spelling you will see most often.

Sources

  1. MAH-JONGG Definition & MeaningMerriam-Webster
  2. MahjongWikipedia
  3. Collection: Mahjong oral history collectionThe Strong National Museum of Play archives

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