Glossary

Short answer: the words you will hear most are tenpai (one tile from winning), riichi (declaring it), ron and tsumo (the two ways to win), yaku (a scoring pattern), dora (bonus tiles), and furiten.

Riichi is played in Japanese, everywhere. These are the terms you will actually hear at tables and in communities — each with romaji, the Japanese, and a one-line definition. Terms used in lessons link here.

Term	Japanese	English	Meaning
agari	あがり	winning	Completing a valid hand, by ron or tsumo.
aka dora	赤ドラ	red five	A red-colored 5 tile worth one bonus han. Not a yaku.
ankou	暗刻	concealed triplet	A triplet formed without calling. Worth more fu than an open one.
atamahane	頭ハネ	head bump	Rule where only the player closest in turn order may ron a discard.
chii	チー	sequence call	Claiming the previous player’s discard to complete a sequence. Opens the hand.
chombo	チョンボ	penalty	A rule-breaking play (e.g. invalid ron) that pays a mangan-sized penalty.
damaten	ダマテン	silent tenpai	Being tenpai with a yaku but not declaring riichi, to stay unreadable.
dora	ドラ	bonus tile	The tile after the indicator; each copy in a winning hand adds one han.
furiten	フリテン	—	State where your own discards block you from winning by ron.
genbutsu	現物	safe tile	A tile in an opponent’s own discards — fully safe against that player’s ron (only theirs).
han	飜	value unit	The main scoring unit. Yaku and dora are counted in han.
hanchan	半荘	full game	The standard game length: the East round plus the South round, at least eight hands.
haitei / houtei	海底 / 河底	last tile / last discard	Winning on the very last draw (haitei) or last discard (houtei) — 1 han each.
honba	本場	repeat counter	Counters for repeated/drawn hands; each adds 300 points to the next win.
ippatsu	一発	one-shot	Winning within one go-around of riichi with no calls — 1 bonus han.
jihai	字牌	honor tiles	Winds and dragons — the tiles without numbers.
kan	カン	quad	A set of four identical tiles. Adds fu, a replacement draw, and a new dora indicator.
kanchan	嵌張	middle wait	Waiting on the middle tile of a sequence (4-6 waiting on 5). 2 fu.
kuitan	喰いタン	open tanyao	Rule allowing tanyao with an open hand. Standard in WRC/EMA.
kyotaku	供託	deposit sticks	Riichi sticks left on the table; the next winner takes them.
mangan	満貫	limit hand	The first score cap: 8,000 (non-dealer) / 12,000 (dealer).
menzen	門前	closed hand	A hand with no open calls. Required for riichi and several yaku.
minkou	明刻	open triplet	A triplet completed by pon (or by ron). Less fu than concealed.
noten	ノーテン	not tenpai	Not one tile from winning at an exhaustive draw — pays the tenpai players.
penchan	辺張	edge wait	Waiting on the end of a 1-2 or 8-9 shape (needing the 3 or the 7). 2 fu.
pon	ポン	triplet call	Claiming any player’s discard to complete a triplet. Opens the hand.
riichi	立直	—	Declaring tenpai with a closed hand for 1,000 points — 1 han plus ura dora rights.
ron	ロン	discard win	Winning on an opponent’s discard. The discarder pays everything.
ryanmen	両面	two-sided wait	Waiting on either end of a sequence (6-7 waiting on 5/8). 0 fu, and required for pinfu.
ryuukyoku	流局	exhaustive draw	The wall runs out with no winner; noten players pay tenpai players.
shanten	向聴	tiles from tenpai	Distance to tenpai: 1-shanten means one effective tile away.
suji	筋	lines	Defensive reading based on 1-4-7 / 2-5-8 / 3-6-9 relationships with discarded tiles.
tanki	単騎	pair wait	Waiting on the tile that completes your pair. 2 fu.
tenpai	聴牌	ready	One tile from a complete hand.
tonpuusen	東風戦	East-only game	A short game of the East round only, at least four hands. Common online.
tsumo	ツモ	self-draw	Drawing your own winning tile; all opponents pay shares.
ura dora	裏ドラ	hidden dora	Extra dora revealed under the indicators — riichi winners only.
yaku	役	scoring pattern	A recognized hand pattern worth han. Every winning hand needs at least one.
yakuhai	役牌	value tiles	Dragons, your seat wind, and the round wind — triplets worth 1 han each.
yakuman	役満	top limit hand	The highest hand class: 32,000 / 48,000 points.

The terms in one hand

Here is how the vocabulary sounds in play. You are menzen (no calls), holding three sequences, a plain number pair, and a 6-7 waiting on 5 or 8: that is tenpai on a ryanmen wait, so you declare riichi. You are not furiten: neither waiting tile is in your discards, and you have not passed up a ron on one. You draw the winning tile yourself: tsumo. The hand is riichi, menzen tsumo, and pinfu — three yaku worth 1 han each — and one ura dora hit adds a fourth han. Had an opponent discarded that tile instead, it would have been ron, and that player alone would pay.

Terms that get mixed up

Han vs fu. Han come from yaku and dora; fu are smaller points from the hand's shape. Both feed the score formula.
Yaku vs dora. A yaku is required to win; dora only add han to a hand that has one.
Chii vs pon. Chii makes a sequence from the previous player's discard only; pon makes a triplet from anyone's.
Mangan vs yakuman. Mangan is the first score cap (8,000 for a non-dealer); yakuman is the top one (32,000).
Hanchan vs tonpuusen. A hanchan is East plus South, at least eight hands; a tonpuusen stops after East, at least four. How each one runs is in your first game.
Tenpai vs noten. Tenpai is one tile from done; noten is anything further, and at a draw it costs you whenever someone else is tenpai.

Missing a term you've run into? The lessons introduce vocabulary in context — start with the course — and the yaku encyclopedia covers every hand name individually.