Mahjong
/ˈmɑː.dʒɒŋ/noun
A Chinese tile game in which players form winning combinations from drawn and discarded tiles.
Did you know?The name’s origin is disputed: it may derive from Chinese 麻雀, “sparrow,” while the popular claim that Confucius invented mahjong is historically unsupported.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Chinese
Classical Chinese
麻雀
“Sparrow; literally, a small bird associated with the character 麻雀”
Late Qing Dynasty
Chinese dialects
麻雀 / 麻将
“Names used for the developing tile game; regional pronunciation and spelling varied”
Late 19th Century
Shanghai Chinese
麻將
“A commonly cited form of the game’s name, though the precise naming pathway remains debated”
1890s–1900s
English
mah-jong / mah-jongg
“English transcriptions of the Chinese game name”
20th Century
Modern English
mahjong
“The standardized English spelling for the Chinese tile game”