Paridae
シジュウカラ科
shijū-kara ka

General

Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Species list may not be current. 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 names of the tits in Japanese all include the form カラ -kara or its voiced counterpart ガラ -gara. These are always found in combination, never as an independent word. カラ kara is used for both the tits (Paridae) and the nuthatches (Sittidae).

カラ kara is written with the Chinese character (kanji) 雀, which is usually read スズメ suzume meaning 'sparrow'. Since Chinese appears to lack a clearly identifiable word for 'tit', there was no Chinese character or word available to write カラ -kara. The Japanese dealt with this by using the character 雀 to represent カラ kara (or ガラ -gara).

山雀 shān-què 'mountain sparrow', the Chinese term for the tits, is possibly based on the Japanese word 山雀 yama-gara in its written form. In Chinese, 雀, read què, is used for both the sparrows and finches.

Family name

The Paridae are named after Parus cinereus, the Cinereus Tit (previously Parus major, the Great Tit), which is known in Japanese as the シジュウカラ shijū-kara or literally 'forty tit', written 四十雀.

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & WESTERN		JAPANESE		CHINESE			KOREAN
Periparus
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Periparus ater Parus ater	Coal tit Mésange noire Tannenmeise Московка	ヒガラ (日雀) hi-gara 'sun tit'		煤山雀 (煤山雀) méi shān-què 'coal mountain-finch'	(煤山雀) 煤山雀 méi shān-què 'coal mountain-finch'	黑山雀 (黑山雀) hēi shān-què 'black mountain-finch' (early ornithological) (35)	진박새 jin-bak-sae 'true ? tit-bird'
Sittiparus
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Sittiparus varius Parus varius Poecile varia	Varied tit Mésange variée Buntmeise Тиссовая синица	ヤマガラ (山雀) yama-gara 'mountain tit'	ヤマガラメ (山がらめ) yama-garame 'mountain tit'	杂色山雀 (雜色山雀) zá-sè shān-què 'mixed colour mountain-finch'	(赤腹山雀) 赤腹山雀 chì-fù shān-què 'red-bellied mountain-finch'	杂山雀 (雜山雀) zá shān-què 'mixed mountain-finch'	곤줄박이 gonjulbagi 'variedtit'
Poecile
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Poecile palustris Parus palustris	Marsh tit Mésange nonnette Sumpfmeise Черноголовая гаичка	ハシブトガラ (嘴太雀) hashi-buto gara 'thick-billed tit'	ヘンソンハシブトガラ (ヘンソン嘴太雀) henson hashi-buto gara 'Henson thick-billed tit' (old scientific name, possibly named after H. Henson of Hakodate)	沼泽山雀 (沼澤山雀) zhǎo-zé shān-què 'swamp mountain-finch'		黑头山雀 (黑頭山雀) hēi-tóu shān-què 'black-headed mountain-finch' 泥沼山雀 (泥沼山雀) ní-zhǎo shān-què 'slough mountain-finch' (early ornithological) (35)	쇠박새 soe-bak-sae 'small tit-bird'
Poecile montanus Parus montanus Poecile montana	Willow tit Mésange boréale Weidenmeise Буроголовая гаичка	コガラ (小雀) ko-gara 'small tit'		北褐头山雀 (北褐頭山雀) běi hè-tóu shān-què 'northern brown-headed mountain-finch' (2) 褐头山雀 (褐頭山雀) hè-tóu shān-què 'brown-headed mountain-finch' (alt in 1, 3, 4, 5)		吱吱红 (吱吱紅) zhī-zhī hóng 'zhi-zhi red' (Also P. cinereus)	북방쇠박새 bukbang-soe-bak-sae 'northern small tit-bird'
Cyanistes
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Cyanistes cyanus Parus cyanus	Azure tit Mésange azurée Lasurmeise Белая лазоревка	ルリガラ (瑠璃雀 ~ 琉璃雀) ruri-gara 'lapis lazuli tit'		灰蓝山雀 (灰藍山雀) huī-lán shān-què 'grey-blue mountain-finch'		中国西方蓝山雀 (中國西方藍山雀) zhōng-guó xī-fāng lán shān-què 'Chinese western blue mountain-finch' (early ornithological) (35)
Parus
Latin	Eng, Fr, Ger, Ru	Japanese	Other J	Chinese	Chinese (Taiwan)	Other Ch	Korean
Parus cinereus	Cinereous Tit	シジュウカラ (四十雀) shijū-kara 'forty tit'		苍背山雀 (蒼背山雀) cāng-bèi shān-què 'darkblue-backed mountain-finch' (Internet)	(白颊山雀) 白頰山雀 bái-jiá shān-què 'white-cheeked mountain-finch'	白脸山雀 (白臉山雀) bái-liǎn shān-què 'white-faced mountain-finch' (31) 白面公 (白面公) bái-miàn gōng 'white faced duke' 白面只 (白面只) bái-miàn zhī 'white-faced zhi' 灰山雀 (灰山雀) huī shān-què 'grey mountain-finch' 黑子 (黑子) hēi-zi 'black fellow' 仔仔黑 (仔仔黑) zǎizǎi-hēi 'zaizai black' 吇吇黑 (吇吇黑) zǐzǐ hēi 'zizi black' 吱吱嘿 (吱吱黑) zhīzhī hēi 'zhizhi black' 山仔仔黑 (山仔仔黑) shān zǎizǎi hēi 'mountain zaizai black' 吱吱红 (吱吱紅) zhī-zhī hóng 'zhi-zhi red' 羊粪蛋 (羊糞蛋) yáng fèn-dàn 'sheep manure ball' 花脸雀 (花臉雀) huā-liǎn què 'flower-faced sparrow' 花脸王 (花臉王) huā-liǎn wáng 'flower-faced king' 子归鸟 (子歸鳥) zǐ-guī niǎo 'child return bird' 吱啵 (吱啵) zhībo 'zhibo'	박새 bak-sae 'tit-bird'

The term 山雀 shān-què 'mountain finch' (or 'mountain sparrow') is the ornithological name for the tits (Paridae). The name has possibly been influenced by Japanese ヤマガラ yama-gara, written 山雀, which is the name of the Varied Tit (Sittiparus varius). Within the Paridae, Mainland usage now reserves 山雀 for species that at the time belonged to the genus Parus. Other genera use the abbreviated form 雀 què.

中国鸟类种和亚种分类名录大全（修订版） 郑作新 著 科学出版社 北京 2000年
A Complete Checklist of Species and Subspecies of the Chinese Birds (Revised Edition) by Cheng Tso-Hsin, Science Press, Beijing 2000

中国鸟类分类与分布名录 主编：郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2005年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of China Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2005

中国鸟类野外手册（中文版）约翰・马敬能、卡伦・菲利普斯，合作者：荷芬奇，翻译：卢和芬 湖南教育出版社 长沙 2000年
A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Chinese translation) by John MacKinnon, Karen Phillipps, in collaboration with He Fen-qi, translated by Lu Hefen, Hunan Jiaoyu Chubanshe (Hunan Educational Press) Changsha 2000

世界鸟类分类与分布名录 主编：郑光美 科学出版社 北京 2002年
A Checklist on the Classification and Distribution of the Birds of the World Chief editor: Zheng Guangmei, Science Press, Beijing 2002

世界鸟类名称（拉丁文、汉文、英文对照）第二版 郑作新等 科学出版社 北京 2002年
Birds of the World (Latin, Chinese and English Names) 2nd ed. by Cheng Tso-Hsin et al, Science Press, Beijing 2002

汉蒙名词术语分类词典（自然科学部分） Mongolian (Cyrillic): Хятад Монгол нэр томъёоны зүйл хуваасан толь (байгалийн шинжлэх ухааны бүлэг) (Chinese-Mongolian classified terminological dictionary, natural sciences part) by 《汉蒙名词术语分类词典》编纂委员会 Mongolian (Cyrillic): "Хятад Монгол нэр томъёоны зүйл хуваасан толь" найруулах комисс (Chinese-Mongolian classified terminological dictionary editorial committee), Inner Mongolian People's Press, Hohhot 1990

Chinese Birds (A Tentative List of Chinese Birds) 中國鳥類（中國鳥類目錄試編） N. Gist Gee, Lacy I. Moffett, G. D. Wilder (祁天錫, 慕維德, 萬卓志), Peiping, 1927 (reprinted 1948)