also: マンズ · ワンツ
character tiles; man tiles
In mahjong, the suit of tiles numbered 1 to 9, marked with the character 万 (ten thousand). Often called 'manzu' or 'wanzu' in English mahjong terminology.
from Chinese wàn zi
Collecting the character tiles from 1 to 9 forms a yaku.
He declared riichi with a wait on a character tile.
Katakana spelling is standard for this mahjong term; usually written in kana.
Alternate reading and spelling; less common than ワンズ.
Rare alternate reading; may be encountered in some mahjong contexts.
Kanji spelling; rarely used in practice. 万 is the character for 'ten thousand' and 子 means 'child' or 'tile'.
Traditional kanji spelling using 萬 instead of 万; very rare.
From Chinese 万子 (wàn zi), literally 'ten thousand child/tile', referring to the character suit in mahjong. The reading ワンズ reflects the Chinese-derived pronunciation, while マンズ is a Japanese approximation.