Fregatidae
军舰鸟科
jūnjiàn-niǎo kē

General

Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Pinyin reflects Mandarin pronunciation; for some dialect names, it is no more than a polite fiction. Korean glosses are tentative. Comments and corrections welcome. Hover over Green Lettering Green lettering at this site hides a tool tip with glosses, further explanations, etc. Hover cursor to reveal. to see additional information.

The frigate birds are known as 军舰鸟 jūn-jiàn-niǎo meaning 'warship-bird' in Chinese. This name appears to have come from English (either from 'frigate bird' or the alternative 'man-o'-war bird'), probably via Japanese.

The name 军舰鸟 jūn-jiàn-niǎo is used on Taiwan for Fregatta minor in Chinese. On the Mainland, however, it has long the trend among Mainland ornithologiests to call the species 小军舰鸟 xiǎo jūnjiàn-niǎo 'small frigatebird', based on the Latin name Fregata minor. The Latin name came about because the bird was originally named Pelecanus minor (literally 'small pelican') and retained the misleading minor when it was transferred to the genus Fregata.

Fauna Sinica (1997) rather confusingly gives ［小］军舰鸟 [xiǎo] jūnjiàn-niǎo '[small] frigatebird', while listing 小军舰鸟 xiǎo jūnjiàn-niǎo 'small frigatebird' as an alternative name. The problem is finally resolved in Zheng Guangmei's world list of birds by naming F. minor 黑腹军舰鸟 hēi-fù jūnjiàn-niǎo 'black-bellied frigatebird'.

Species names

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SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			EAST		SOUTH	NORTH
Fregata
Latin	English	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Japanese	Korean	Vietnamese	Mongolian
Fregata ariel	Lesser frigatebird Lesser frigate bird	白斑军舰鸟 (白班軍艦鳥) bái-bān jūnjiàn-niǎo 'white-striped warship-bird'	(白斑军舰鸟) 白斑軍艦鳥 bái-bān jūnjiàn-niǎo 'white-striped warship-bird'		コグンカンドリ (小軍艦鳥) ko gunkan-dori 'small warship-bird'	군함조 gunham-jo 'warship-bird' (군함조=軍艦鳥)	Chim Cốc biển bé 'little sea-cormorant (bird)' (12, 13)
Fregata minor	Great frigatebird Great frigate bird	黑腹军舰鸟 (黑腹軍艦鳥) hēi-fù jūnjiàn-niǎo 'black-bellied warship-bird' (2, 4) 小军舰鸟 (小軍艦鳥) xiǎo jūnjiàn-niǎo 'small warship-bird' (1, 3, 5)	(军舰鸟) 軍艦鳥 jūnjiàn-niǎo 'warship-bird'		オオグンカンドリ (大軍艦鳥) ō gunkan-dori 'large warship-bird'	큰군함조 keun-gunham-jo 'large warship-bird' (군함조=軍艦鳥)	Chim Cốc biển đen 'black sea-cormorant (bird)' (12, 13, 34)	Inner M: Бяцхан тонооч шувуу ᠪᠢᠴᠢᠬᠠᠨ ᠲᠣᠨᠣᠭᠠᠴᠢ ᠰᠢᠪᠠᠭᠣ 'little looter bird' (31)
Fregata andrewsi	Christmas Island frigatebird Christmas Island frigate bird	白腹军舰鸟 (白腹軍艦鳥) bái-fù jūnjiàn-niǎo 'white-bellied warship-bird'			シロハラグンカンドリ (白腹軍艦鳥) shiro-hara gunkan-dori 'white-bellied warship-bird'		Chim Cốc biển bụng trắng 'white-bellied sea cormorant (bird)' (12, 34)

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