mah jong

British  

/ ˌmɑːˈdʒɒŋ /

noun

1. a game of Chinese origin, usually played by four people, in which tiles bearing various designs are drawn and discarded until one player has an entire hand of winning combinations

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Etymology

Origin of mah jong

from Chinese, literally: sparrows

Example Sentences

My mother and aunts playing mah jong in the basement, gossiping in Chinese to the rapid clack-clack-clack as they shuffled tiles beneath an incandescent light.

From Salon • Dec. 17, 2016

Urogynecologists joke that when one member of a bridge club, mah jong group, or neighborhood coffee klatch comes for treatment, the other members are sure to follow.

From Washington Post • Dec. 22, 2015

He takes it as seriously as most people take mah jong; and he plays the game day and night.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is said to use an adding machine to compute mah jong scores.

From Time Magazine Archive

The table had a very thick pad, so that when the mah jong pat were spilled onto the table the only sound was of ivory tiles washing against one another.

From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan