Apodidae

Chinese: The swifts are known in Chinese as 雨燕 yǔ-yàn or 'rain swallows'.

The swiftlets (or salanganes), many of which are valued for their edible nests, are known as 金丝燕 jīn-sī yàn or 'gold-silk swallows'. As a delicacy, the nests are known as 燕窝 yàn-wō 'swallow's nests'.

Japanese: The swifts are known in Japanese as アマツバメ ama-tsubame or 'rain swallows'. This is not only exactly the same in meaning as the Chinese, but is also written with the same Chinese characters (雨燕). Unqualified, this refers to A. pacificus.

Other names include アマドリ ama-dori (雨鳥) 'rain bird' or アマクロツバメ ama-kuro-tsubame (雨黒燕) 'rain black swallow'.

The swiftlets are called アナツバメ ana-tsubame, written 穴燕 and meaning 'hole swallows', presumably because of their nesting habits. The edible nests of the swiftlets are known as つばめのす tsubame no su (燕の巣) 'swallow's nests'.

Vietnamese: The common name for all swifts and swiftlets in Vietnamese is Yến. This is a borrowing from the Chinese word 燕 yàn meaning 'swallow'. The original meaning 'swallow' still survives in some literary expressions in Vietnamese.

The edible nests of the swiftlets are known as yến sào.

The distribution of the Apodidae in East Asia can be seen at Tzung-Su Ding's Distribution of APODIFORMES in East Asia.

1. Some sources regard the Chinese population of Aerodramus fuciphagus as belonging to A. germani (Germain's swiftlet or Pale-rumped swiftlet). The Chinese name for A. germani is 淡腰金丝燕 dàn-yāo jīn-sī-yàn 'pale-rumped swiftlet' (ZGM) or 戈氏金丝燕 Gē-shì jīn-sī-yàn 'Mr Ge's swiftlet' (M&P). Howard & Moore treat A. germani as a subspecies of A. fuciphagus.

2. Apus affinis and A. nipalensis were originally classified as one species, A. affinis (House swift), but are now often divided into two species (including by Howard & Moore 2003). The Chinese species is treated by Cheng and M&P as A. affinis, by Viney as A. nipalensis.

• As noted above, the swifts are all linguistically associated with swallows in CJV. Both Chinese and Japanese call the swifts 'rain swallows'. Ama-tsubame is formed of native Japanese roots (ame + tsubame). Both Chinese and Japanese names are written with the same characters. It is possible that the Chinese have taken over the Japanese term as a 'visual borrowing', i.e., based on the script rather than pronunciation. The Vietnamese word yến is directly derived from the Chinese word for 'swallow'.
• In Vietnamese, the swallows themselves are referred to as nhạn or én. The word én is derived from the same Chinese word as yến. This is a case where the same Chinese word has been borrowed more than once, possibly at different times in history.