A Guide to Mahjong Tile Meanings

Stones

The stones suit is also referred to as wheels, circles, or cookies. This suit features a circular shape, and on the face of each tile is a range of one to nine round shapes. 

The round shape represents a 筒 (tóng), which is a coin with a square hole in the middle. There are four sets of each suit, and each set has nine tiles. That means there is a total of 36 stone tiles in each game set.

Characters

Another simple suit is called characters, also known as numbers, thousands, or coins. These tiles feature the character 萬 (wàn) on its surface, which means 10,000.

Each tile also has a Chinese character ranging from one to nine. Thus, it is necessary to learn how to read numbers one through nine in Chinese in order to be able to put the tiles in numerical order. There are 36 character tiles in each set.

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Bamboos

The bamboo simple suit is also referred to as sticks. These tiles have bamboo sticks which represent the strings (索, sǔo) that ancient copper coins were strung on in sets of 100 (弔, diào) or 1,000 coins (貫, guàn).

The tiles have two through nine sticks on it. The number one tile ​does not have a bamboo stick on it. Instead, it has a bird sitting on bamboo, so this set is sometimes also called "bird." There 36 bamboo tiles in a set.

Flowers

Flowers are an optional suit. This set of eight tiles features pictures of flowers plus a number ranging from one to four. How the flower suit is played varies by region. The flowers could be used like the Joker in card games or as a wild card to complete tile combinations. Flowers can also help players earn extra points.

The eight flower tiles include four tiles representing the four seasons: winter (冬天, dōngtiān), spring (春天, chūntiān), summer (夏天, xiàtiān), and fall (秋天, qiūtiān).

The remaining flower tiles represent the four Confucian plants: bamboo (竹, zhú), chrysanthemum (菊花, júhuā), orchid (蘭花, lánhuā), and plum (梅, méi).

There is only one set of flower tiles. 

Honor Suits

Wind is one of two honor suits. These tiles each feature the character for compass directions: north (北, běi), east (東, dōng), south (南, nán), and west (西, xī). Like the characters simple suit, it is necessary to learn to read the cardinal direction characters in Chinese to recognize and organize this suit.

There are four sets, and each set has four tiles. The total number of wind tiles in each game set is 16. 

The other honor suit is called arrows, or dragons. There are four sets of arrows tiles, and each set has three tiles. This threesome has several meanings which are derived from the ancient imperial exam, archery, and Confucius’ cardinal virtues.

One tile features a red 中 (zhōng, center). The Chinese character represents 紅中 (hóng zhōng), which connotes passing the imperial exam, a hit in archery, and the Confucian virtue of benevolence.

Another tile features a green 發 (fā, wealth). This character is a part of the saying, 發財 (fā cái). This saying translates to "get rich," but it also represents an archer releasing his or her draw and the Confucian virtue of sincerity.

The last character features a blue 白 (bái, white), which represents 白板 (bái ban, white board). The white board means freedom from corruption, a miss in archery, or the Confucian virtue of filial piety.

There is a total of 12 arrow, or dragon, tiles in each mahjong set.