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mahjong
A tile-based game of skill, strategy, and calculation that originated in China. The Japanese version uses 136 tiles and is typically played by four players who draw and discard tiles to form winning hands.
Writing
Usually written 麻雀 — kanji with katakana furigana — or simply マージャン. The kanji themselves are rarely read as 麻雀 outside of dictionaries. The reading is a borrowing from Chinese, which is why it takes katakana despite being written with kanji.
Common collocations
- 麻雀を打つ: to play mahjong — the idiomatic verb, from striking the tiles down on the table
- 麻雀をする: to play mahjong — the plain general verb, also correct
- 雀荘: a mahjong parlour
- 麻雀牌: mahjong tiles
- 麻雀卓: a mahjong table
- 全自動麻雀卓: an automatic mahjong table, which shuffles and stacks the tiles itself
Cultural note
Mahjong is a mainstream social game in Japan, with dedicated parlours in most towns and a long presence in manga and anime. Playing for money is technically illegal, but small stakes among friends are commonplace and rarely remarked on. The Japanese rule set differs considerably from the Chinese and Western ones, which is part of why 覚える (learning it) has a reputation for being hard.