Cisticolidae - 扇尾莺科 - セッカ科

1. General names

Chinese: The cisticolas are known as 扇尾莺 shàn-wěi-yīng 'fan-tailed warblers' in Mainland China and 錦鴝 jǐn-qù 'brocade robins' in Taiwan. The prinias are known as 鹪莺 jiāo-yīng 'wren warblers' both on the Mainland and in Taiwan.

Japanese: The only member found in Japan is Cisticola juncidis (the Zitting cisticola), which is known as the セッカ sekka. This is written 雪加 'snow add' or 雪下 'under snow' in Chinese characters. The characters appear to be phonetically inspired, another case of Chinese characters used on an ad hoc basis in the absence of really suitable characters.

The word セッカ sekka is also used in the names of a number of birds in the Acrocephalinae and Megalurinae.

Vietnamese: All members of the Cisticolidae are known as Chiền chiện in Vietnamese. This name is also used for Megalurus palustris (Striated grassbird) -- see Megalurinae.

2. Species names

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SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			JAPANESE		VIETNAMESE
Latin	English	Chinese (Mainland)	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Vietnamese	Other V
Cisticola juncidis	Zitting cisticola or Fantailed cisticola Rufous fantail warbler (Cheng) Fantail warbler	棕扇尾莺 zōng shàn-wěi-yīng 'reddish-brown fan-tail warbler'	錦鴝 jǐn-qú 'brocade robin'		セッカ (雪加 or 雪下) sekka 'sekka' (written 'snow add' or 'snow under')		Chiền chiện đồng hung 'reddish field chien chien'
Cisticola exilis	Golden-headed cisticola Bright-headed cisticola Golden-headed fantail warbler (Cheng) Gold-capped cisticola Bright-capped cisticola Yellow-headed fantail warbler	金头扇尾莺 jīn-tóu shàn-wěi-yīng 'golden-headed fan-tail warbler' 黄头扇尾莺 huáng-tóu shàn-wěi-yīng 'yellow-headed fan-tail warbler' (Viney)	白頭錦鴝 bái-tóu jǐn-qú 'white-headed brocade robin'		タイワンセッカ (台湾雪加 or 台湾雪下) Taiwan sekka 'Taiwanese sekka'		Chiền chiện đồng vàng 'golden field chien chien'
Rhopophilus pekinensis	White-browed Chinese warbler White-browed bush dweller (Cheng) Chinese hill warbler	山鹛 shān-méi 'mountain babbler'			カラチメドリ (唐知目鳥) kara chime-dori 'Chinese chimé bird'
Prinia criniger/ Prinia crinigera	Striated prinia Hill prinia (Cheng)	山鹪莺 shān-jiāo-yīng 'mountain wren-warbler'	斑紋鷦鶯 bān-wén jiāo-yīng 'stripe fine-patterned wren warbler'		ハウチワドリ (羽団扇鳥) ha-uchiwa-dori 'feather round-fan bird'
Prinia polychroa	Brown prinia Brown hill prinia (Cheng) David's hill warbler Brown hill warbler	褐山鹪莺 hè shān-jiāo-yīng 'brown mountain wren-warbler'			ヤマハウチワドリ (山羽団扇鳥) yama ha-uchiwa-dori 'mountain feather round-fan bird'		Chiền chiện núi 'mountain chien chien'
Prinia atrogularis	Hill prinia White-browed prinia Black-throated hill prinia (Cheng)	黑喉山鹪莺 hēi-hóu shān-jiāo-yīng 'black-throated mountain wren-warbler'			ノドグロハウチワドリ (喉黒羽団扇鳥) nodo-guro ha-uchiwa-dori 'black-throated feather round-fan bird'		Chiền chiện núi họng trắng 'white-throated mountain chien chien'
Prinia rufescens	Rufescent prinia Lesser brown prinia Dark-crowned hill prinia (Cheng) Dark-crowned wren warbler	暗冕山鹪莺 àn-miǎn shān-jiāo-yīng 'dark-crowned mountain wren-warbler' 暗冕鹪莺 àn-miǎn jiāo-yīng 'dark-crowned wren-warbler' (Cheng, M&P, Viney, Atlas)			チャイロハウチワドリ (茶色羽団扇鳥) cha-iro ha-uchiwa-dori 'brown feather round-fan bird'		Chiền chiện đầu nâu 'brown-headed chien chien'
Prinia hodgsonii	Grey-breasted prinia Franklin's prinia Grey-breasted hill prinia (Cheng) Franklin's wren warbler	灰胸山鹪莺 huī-xiōng shān-jiāo-yīng 'grey-breasted mountain wren-warbler' 灰胸鹪莺 huī-xiōng jiāo-yīng 'grey-breasted wren warbler' (Cheng, M&P, Viney, Atlas)			ハイイロムネハウチワドリ (灰色胸羽団扇鳥) hai-iro-mune ha-uchiwa-dori 'grey-breasted feather round-fan bird'		Chiền chiện lưng xám 'grey-backed chien chien' Chiền chiện ngực xám 'grey-breasted chien chien' (Nguyen, Le & Phillipps)
Latin	English	Chinese (Mainland)	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Vietnamese	Other V
Prinia flaviventris	Yellow-bellied prinia Yellow-bellied hill prinia (Cheng) Yellow-bellied wren warbler	灰胸鹪莺 huī-xiōng jiāo-yīng 'grey-breasted wren warbler' 黄腹鹪莺 huáng-fù jiāo-yīng 'yellow-bellied wren-warbler' (Cheng, M&P, Atlas) 灰头鹪莺 huī-tóu jiāo-yīng 'grey-headed wren-warbler' (Viney)	灰頭鷦鶯 huī-tóu jiāo-yīng 'grey-headed wren-warbler'	灰头竿鴓 huī-tóu gān-miè 'grey-headed pole warbler' (old)	アオハウチワドリ (青羽団扇鳥) ao ha-uchiwa-dori 'blue feather round-fan bird'		Chiền chiện bụng vàng 'golden-bellied chien chien'
Prinia inornata/ Prinia subflava	Plain prinia Greater brown hill prinia (Cheng) Brown wren warbler Greater brown wren warbler	纯色山鹪莺 chún-sè shān-jiāo-yīng 'pure-coloured mountain wren-warbler' 褐头鹪莺 hè-tóu jiāo-yīng 'brown-headed wren-warbler' (Cheng, M&P, Viney, Atlas)	褐頭鷦鶯 hè-tóu jiāo-yīng 'brown-headed wren-warbler'		マミハウチワドリ (眉羽団扇鳥) mami ha-uchiwa-dori 'eye-browed feather round-fan bird'		Chiền chiện bụng hung 'reddish-bellied chien chien'

3. Notes

The distribution of the Cisticolidae in East Asia can be seen at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of Cisticolidae in East Asia.

1. Prinia inornata is now tentatively split from Prinia subflava (Tawny-flanked prinia) in Howard-Moore 2003.

2. The name 鹪莺 jiāo-yīng ('wren warbler') in Chinese is interesting because it takes the first syllable of the word for 'wren' (鹪鹩 jiāoliáo) and combines it with the word for 'warbler' (莺 yīng). The word jiāoliáo is essentially one word, indivisible, but the writing system breaks it up into two separate characters, which are then free to be used in new words. See also the wren babblers.