Mahjong characters · 筒子 tǒng zi

What do the circles on mahjong tiles mean?

The dots are strings of coins, drawn as rings. There is no character anywhere on them — you count the circles and say the number yourself, which is exactly the kind of practice that builds recall.

Every face in this suit

On the tile	Called	Reading	What it is
—	一筒	yī tǒng	1 of dots
—	二筒	èr tǒng	2 of dots
—	三筒	sān tǒng	3 of dots
—	四筒	sì tǒng	4 of dots
—	五筒	wǔ tǒng	5 of dots
—	六筒	liù tǒng	6 of dots
—	七筒	qī tǒng	7 of dots
—	八筒	bā tǒng	8 of dots
—	九筒	jiǔ tǒng	9 of dots

There is no writing on these tiles at all, and that is genuinely useful if you are learning: a face with a character on it lets you read the answer off, while a face with pips makes you produce 六 liù from nothing. Recall is what builds memory; recognition mostly feels like it does.

The characters, off the table

These are ordinary words. Each one is taught somewhere in an HSK course, and here is where:

Character	Reading	Meaning	Taught at
一	yī	one	数字零到十 · HSK 1
二	èr	two	数字零到十 · HSK 1
三	sān	three	数字零到十 · HSK 1
四	sì	four	数字零到十 · HSK 1
五	wǔ	five	数字零到十 · HSK 1
六	liù	six	数字零到十 · HSK 1
七	qī	seven	数字零到十 · HSK 1
八	bā	eight	数字零到十 · HSK 1
九	jiǔ	nine	数字零到十 · HSK 1
筒	tǒng	tube, circle	华侨、化石与化妆 · HSK 6

Save this suit as one card

The same faces as a single image, sized for a phone screen: tap it, then pick 9:16 for TikTok or Reels, 4:5 for a feed, or 1.91:1 for a link preview.

Play with the real tiles

The full set — all 34 faces, a dealt hand to read, a matching game, a 听牌 puzzle and the words spoken at the table — is on the main mahjong page. Tap any tile there for its reading, stroke order and the lesson that teaches it.

The other suits: Characters Bamboo Winds Dragons · All the mahjong cards