Scolopacinae

The Scolopacinae (woodcock and snipe) are one of two subfamilies of the Scolopacidae. The other is the Tringinae (sandpipers, curlews, etc.)

Chinese:

The popular generic name for the Scolopacidae, both Scolopacinae and Tringinae, is 鹬 yù. For the snipe proper (genus Gallinago), however, ornithologists on the Mainland use the term 沙锥 shā zhuī 'sand drill' (or 沙锥鸟 shā zhuī niǎo 'sand drill bird'). In Taiwan, 鹬 yù is officially used for all Scolopacidae.

Japanese:

The Japanese term for the Scolopacidae in general, both Scolopacinae and Tringinae, is シギ shigi, written with the same character as the Chinese word yù. The Japanese-created character 鴫 is also used.

Vietnamese:

The Vietnamese name for birds belonging to the Scolopacinae, as well as many members of Tringinae, is Dẽ (also spelt Giẽ or Rẽ). The Woodcock is also known as a Nhát bà.

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

Chinese:

• Abandoning the word 鹬 yù in favour of 沙锥 shā zhuī for the snipe. 沙锥 shā zhuī is a more obscure term than 鹬 yù and is still not found in many general-use dictionaries of Chinese.
• Using different names for the Woodcock and Jack snipe. The original terms 山鹬 shān yù and 小鹬 xiǎo yù both appear to be known on the Mainland, but have been officially superseded.

Vietnamese:

Vietnamese assigns names to the Scolopacidae according to its own standards, without reference to other languages. For the Scolopacinae, all birds except the Scolopax rusticola are given names meaning 'worm sandpiper/snipe'.

In Japanese haiku, the Latham's or Japanese snipe, known as かみなりしぎ kaminari-shigi (雷鴫) 'thunder shigi' is a season word for summer.