Rallidae

Chinese: The general name for the rails in Chinese is 秧鸡 yāng-jī. 秧 yāng means 'seedling'; 鸡 jī means 'chicken' or 'fowl'. This term has a respectable history and is found in the Ming-era Compendium of Chinese Materia Medica. Other names for members of the Rallidae are as follows:

For the average Chinese, however, the most familiar interpretation of 田鸡 tián-jī is 'frog meat', which is what it means on Chinese menus.

The Moorhen and the Coot are interesting for the variety of names used.

The Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is known as 黑水鸡 hēi shuǐ-jī ('black water fowl') or 红骨顶 hóng gǔ-dǐng ('red bone top'). The Taiwanese name is 紅冠水雞 hóng-guàn shuǐ-jī ('red-crested water fowl').

The Black coot (Fulica atra) is known as the 骨顶鸡 gǔ dǐng jī ('bone top fowl') or 白骨顶 bái gǔ-dǐng ('white bone top)', the latter a North Chinese term. 白冠雞 bái-guàn jī ('white-crested fowl') is used in Taiwan.

Both the Moorhen and the Black coot are also known as 鷭 fán, which appears to be a Japanese borrowing.

Japanese:

The rails are called クイナ kuina. In Chinese characters, this is written either 秧鶏 ('seedling fowl') or 水鶏 ('water fowl'), based on Chinese names. Kuina by itself usually refers to the Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus). In traditional poetry it referred to the Ruddy-breasted Crake (Porzana fusca).

The Moorhen and the Coot are known as バン ban, written 鷭. Although this character is from Chinese, it is not clear what kind of bird it referred to. Its application to these two birds appears to be of Japanese origin.

Vietnamese:

Naturalists call the Purple swamp hen the xít, although the more common word in everyday usage appears to be trích. It is possible that trích was passed over for fear of confusion with chích 'warbler', which has the same pronunciation in the standard Hanoi dialect.

The word Đỗ quyên, borrowed from Chinese 杜鹃, is a curious one. Originally it referred to the cuckoos, but later, was confused with the crakes or Cuốc. The word Đỗ vũ, borrowed from 杜宇 and also originally meaning 'cuckoo', has suffered the same fate.

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

1. The humble Okinawa rail has achieved celebrity status in Japan as a symbol of endangered wildlife. There are no doubt plenty of people out there who don't have much idea what a kuina is but have heard of the Yanbaru kuina.

1. Vietnamese has the expression Lủi như cuốc, 'Steal away like a crake', a reference to the quiet, secretive movements of these birds.