Alcedinidae

The Alcedinidae (or Alcedinae), Halcyonidae, and Cerylidae, all known as 'kingfishers' in English, have also to varying degrees been identified as belonging together in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese. Naturalists' distinctions tend to be forced and divorced from traditional popular usage.

Chinese:

In Chinese, 翠鸟 cùi-niǎo ('cui bird') is the popular name for kingfishers in general. Ornithologists restrict it to refer to the alcedin kingfishers. Alcedo atthis (the Common or River kingfisher) is common in large parts of China; the other members are found only in peripheral areas.

翠鸟 cùi-niǎo is related to the word 翡翠 fěicùi, now the official name of the halcyon kingfishers. According to one of China's earliest dictionaries, the Shuowen Jiezi (dating to the Han dynasty, roughly the time of the Roman Empire), 翡翠 fěicùi is a combination of 翡 fěi, a type of red-winged bird, and 翠 cuì, a type of blue or green-winged bird. 翠鸟 cùi-niǎo is thus quite reasonably applied to Alcedo atthis, a blue bird with green wings.

Japanese:

The Japanese word for Alcedo atthis, the only alcedin found in Japan, is カワセミ kawa-semi. Kawa means 'river'. Semi means 'kingfisher', although semi never occurs by itself as an independent word.

There is no single Chinese character that can be used to write kawa-semi. The Japanese have thus been forced to find other ways to write it:

(1) 翡翠 (normally read hisui) from the Chinese word fěicùi 'kingfisher' (see halcyon kingfishers). 翡翠 hisui also means 'jadeite'.
(2) 川蝉 kawa-semi which literally means 'river cicada'. Although semi 'cicada' and semi 'kingfisher' are different words, the character 蝉 'cicada' is used for the kingfisher due to the common pronunciation.
(3) 魚狗 'fish dog' (Chinese yú-gǒu) is sometimes also used (see cerylid kingfishers).

Vietnamese:

The Vietnamese name for the alcedin kingfishers is Bồnh chanh, which unmodified is used by naturalists to refer to Alcedo atthis.

Vietnamese also uses the Chinese loan word Thúy điểu (翠鸟), although it is not clear exactly which kingfishers it refers to.

The distribution of Alcedinidae in East Asia can be found at Dzung-Su Ding's Distribution of CORACIIFORMES in East Asia.