General names
Information is based on dictionaries and other sources. Comments and corrections welcome.
The form 雀 was traditionally identified with the sparrows (now usually 麻雀 ) or to small birds in general. In a more specialised sense, the name 雀 has come to be identified with the finches, hence the name of the Fringillidae: 雀科 . (Recently, however, the tendency on the Mainland is to call the family 燕雀科 , after the name of the Brambling.) Most of the fringillids have been given names that end in 雀 , to the extent that even the 金翅 'gold-wing' has been officially transformed into the 金翅雀 'gold-wing sparrow'.
The naming of the Hawfinches/Grosbeaks is an area of curious confusion. In Taiwan, the genus Coccothraustes is given the name 臘嘴雀 'cured-meat-billed sparrow'. (The character 臘 has a number of meanings, including the end of the lunar year and associated sacrifices, and cured meat or sausage meat). On the other hand, the Mainland names use 錫嘴 'tin bill' for Coccothraustes and 蠟嘴 'wax bill' for Eophona. Superficially, the names appear totally unrelated, but the following table showing the all-important first character and its variations suggests otherwise.
| 1 | 2 (simple form of 1) | 3 | 4 | |
| Character | 臘 | 腊 | 蠟 | 錫 |
| Pronunciation | or | |||
| Meaning | 1. end of lunar year and associated sacrifices 2. cured meat | 1. end of lunar year and associated sacrifices; 2. cured meat | wax | tin |
| Simplified form (Mainland) | 腊 | 腊 | 蜡 | 锡 |
The key is the second column, which shows a traditional simplification of 臘. The character 腊 may be read either or (standardised to in Mainland China), which is precisely the pronunciation of the Mainland names for the two genera. Without further study it would be difficult to know the origins of this tangle of names, but it appears that the three names are indeed related. (Incidentally, the Japanese name of Coccothraustes coccothraustes is written with the characters of the Chinese name 蠟嘴 'waxbill', simplified to 蝋嘴 in modern Japanese).
Regularised names:
The relationship of the common names to scientific genera is as follows:
| Taiwanese name | Literal meaning | Genus | Mainland name | Literal meaning | Note |
| 花雀 |
'flower-sparrow' | Fringilla | 燕雀 |
'swallow-sparrow' | |
| 金翅雀 |
'gold-wing sparrow' | Carduelis (greenfinches, goldfinches) | 金翅 金翅雀 |
'gold-wing' or 'gold-wing sparrow' | |
| 黄雀 |
'yellow-sparrow' | Carduelis (siskins) | 黄雀 |
'yellow-sparrow' | Traditionally used for the sparrow. |
| 朱頂雀 |
'vermilion-capped sparrow' | Carduelis (redpoll, twite, linnet) | 朱頂雀 |
'vermilion-capped sparrow' | |
| 朱雀 |
'vermilion-sparrow' | Carpodacus | 朱雀 |
'vermilion-sparrow' | |
| 鷽 |
'xue' | Pyrrhula | 灰雀 |
'grey sparrow' | The name 鷽 is from Japanese usage (where it is read uso). In Chinese, the character originally appears to have been used for a bird resembling the Japanese Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone atrocaudata) or Dollarbird (Eurystomas orientalis). |
| 臘嘴雀 |
'cured-meat-billed sparrow' | Coccothraustes | 錫嘴雀 |
'tin-billed sparrow' | See explanation above. |
| 桑鳲 |
'mulberry shi' | Eophona | 蠟嘴雀 |
'wax-billed sparrow' | See explanation above. |
Species names
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