Acrocephalidae
葦鶯科
wěi-yīng kē

General

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The Acrocephalidae were originally part of the old Sylviidae (Old World warblers) assemblage. (Other families arising from this break-up include the Locustellidae, Phylloscipidae, and Scotocercidae, as well as part of the Sylviidae.)

All members still bear the name 鶯 yīng, which is the Chinese ornithological equivalent of English 'warbler'. (Note that 鶯 yīng is not likely to be used on its own, especially in speech, as it is homophonous with 'eagle' or 鷹 yīng.)

Unlike many other warblers, the acrocephalids are associated with popular names, particularly the highly conspicuous East Asian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis), which is known as 葦 wěi zhá 'reed zha' or 葦串兒 wěi chuànr 'go-through reed' in the north of China and 蘆罩 lù-zhào 'reed cover' in the south of China. This prompted an early proposal (35) to name the members of the genus Acrocephalus 葦 wěi zhá. However, later authorities decided on 苇莺 wěi-yīng 'reed warbler' for the sake of uniform naming.

The original meaning of 鶯 yīng in Chinese was oriole. Its adoption by ornithologists as a general name for sylviid warblers took place under an interesting example of roundabout Japanese influence. The Japanese traditionally regarded the Japanese Bush Warbler or uguisu (Horornis diphone) as the poetic equivalent of the Chinese oriole due to its beautiful song. As a result the Japanese name of the bird, うぐいす uguisu, was written with the character for 'oriole', 鶯. Due to its cultural prominence, this bird's name was eventually adopted for the Japanese family name of the Sylviidae -- 鶯科 uguisu-ka -- which then passed into Chinese ornithological terminology as 鶯科 yīng-kē. (See 'Of Orioles and Warblers').

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & ENGLISH		CHINESE			JAPANESE		OTHER
Acrocephalus
Latin	English	Chinese (Taiwan)	Chinese (Mainland)	Other Ch	Japanese	Other J	Korean	Vietnamese
Acrocephalus bistrigiceps	Black-browed reed warbler Black-browed reed-warbler Schrenk's reed warbler Von Schrenk's reed warbler	(双眉苇莺) 雙眉葦鶯 shuāng-méi wěi-yīng 'double-eyebrowed reed-warbler'	黑眉苇莺 (黑眉葦鶯) hēi-méi wěi-yīng 'black-eyebrowed reed-warbler'	(小儿) 小兒 xiǎo zhār 'small zhar' (northern) (35)	コヨシキリ (小葦切り) ko yoshi-kiri 'small reed-cutter'		쇠쇠개개비 soe-soe-gaegaebi 'small small reedwarbler'	Chim Chích đầu nhọn mày đen 'black-eyebrowed sharp-headed warbler (bird)' (12)
Acrocephalus sorghophilus	Streaked reed warbler Streaked reed-warbler Speckled reed warbler	(细纹苇莺) 細紋葦鶯 xì-wén wěi-yīng 'fine-patterned reed-warbler'	细纹苇莺 (細紋葦鶯) xì-wén wěi-yīng 'fine-patterned reed-warbler'		セスジコヨシキリ (背条小葦切り) se-suji ko yoshi-kiri 'back line small reed-cutter'
Acrocephalus agricola	Paddyfield warbler	(稻田苇莺) 稻田葦鶯 dàotián wěi-yīng 'paddy-field reed-warbler'	稻田苇莺 (稻田葦鶯) dàotián wěi-yīng 'paddy-field reed-warbler'		イナダヨシキリ (稲田葦切り) inada yoshi-kiri 'paddy field reed-cutter'		북방쇠개개비 bukbang-soe-gaegaebi 'northern small reedwarbler' or 서양쇠개개비 seoyang-soe-gaegaebi 'western small reedwarbler'
Acrocephalus orientalis	East Asian reed warbler East Asian reed-warbler East Asian great reed warbler	(东方大苇莺) 東方大葦鶯 dōngfāng dà wěi-yīng 'eastern large reed-warbler'	东方大苇莺 (東方葦鶯) dōngfāng dà wěi-yīng 'eastern large reed-warbler'	(大苇莺) 大葦鶯 dà wěi-yīng 'large reed-warbler' (6, 7) (芦罩) 蘆罩 lù-zhào 'reed cover' (southern) (35) (苇串儿) 葦串兒 wěi chuànr 'go-through reed' (northern) (35) (苇) 葦 wěi zhā 'reed zha' (northern) (35) (大苇子) 大葦子 dà wěi zházi 'large reed zhazi' (大扎儿) 大葦兒 dà wěi zhār 'large reed zhar' (芦稿鸟) 蘆稿鳥 lú-gǎo niǎo 'reed stalk bird' (芦蝈蝈) 蘆蟈蟈 lú guōguō 'reed katydid' (剖苇鸟) 剖葦鳥 pōu wěi niǎo 'split reed bird' (剖苇) 剖葦 pōu wěi 'split reed'	オオヨシキリ (大葦切り) ō yoshi-kiri 'large reed-cutter'	ギョウギョウシ (仰々し ~ 行々し) gyōgyōshi 'gyogyoshi' (characters are for sound only)	개개비 gaegaebi 'reedwarbler'	Chim Chích đầu nhọn Phương đông 'eastern sharp-headed warbler (bird)' (12)

セッカ sekka is used in Japanese for several small warbling birds in the Cisticolidae, Locustellidae, and Phylloscopidae. The etymology is unknown. It is written with the ateji 雪加 (literally 'snow-add') or 雪下 (literally 'snow-below'), characters assigned on the basis of sound only with little or no relation to etymology or meaning.

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

中国鸟类分布名录 第二版 郑作新 科学出版社 北京 1976年
(Checklist of the Classification of Birds of China 2nd edition by Cheng Tso-Hsin, Science Press, Beijing 1976)

香港及華南鳥類（第六版）（翻譯成中文及重新修訂） 尹璉、費嘉倫、林超英 香港性徵特區政府新聞處政府印務局 1994年
Birds of Hong Kong and South China (6th edition, translated into Chinese and newly revised) by Clive Viney, Karen Phillipps, Lin Chaoying, Hong Kong Govt. Press 1994

Danh Lục Chim Việt Nam (In lần thứ hai) (Checklist of the Birds of Vietnam) Võ Quý, Nguyễn Cử, Nhà Xuất Bản Nông Nghiệp, Hà Nội 1999

Chim Việt Nam Nguyễn Cử, Lê Trọng Trải, Karen Phillipps; Nhà Xuất Bản Lao Động - Xã Hội, 2000

Danh Lục Các Loài Chim ở Việt Nam (Latinh, Việt, Pháp, Hán) Trần Văn Chánh 2008-2009

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)