筒子ぴんず

ピ

ン

ズ

Meanings

pinzu; dot tiles; circle tiles

One of the three main suits in mahjong, represented by circles. The term is used in tile names like 一筒 (イーピン), 二筒 (リャンピン), etc.

from Chinese

麻雀まーじゃんでは、筒子ぴんずは丸まるい模も様ようの牌ぱいです。
In mahjong, pinzu are tiles with circle patterns.
彼かれは筒子ぴんずの一いっ気き通つう貫かんを狙ねらっている。
He is aiming for a straight of pinzu tiles.

Kanji

筒cylinder, pipe, tube
子child, sign of the rat, 11PM-1AM
餅mochi rice cake

Don't confuse with

萬わん
萬 (ワン) is the counter for character-tile numbers (萬子) in mahjong, while 筒子 (ピンズ) is the dot/circle-tile suit counted with 筒 (ピン), so the two are easily mixed up by beginners learning suit names.

Written forms

筒子Usage17%
- ピンズ
  Standard kanji spelling for the pinzu suit in mahjong. Also read トンズ, but ピンズ is the usual reading.
- トンズ
ピンズUsage71%
Katakana spelling is common in mahjong contexts.
トンズUsage13%
餅子ぴんず
Alternate kanji spelling using 餅 (mochi) for the round shape; rarely used.

Etymology

From Chinese mahjong terminology. 筒 means 'cylinder' or 'tube', referring to the circular shape of the tiles. The reading ピンズ is derived from Chinese 'bǐng' (饼, cake/round object), while トンズ is a Japanese approximation of the Chinese reading.