Picidae

Chinese: The woodpeckers are known appropriately enough as 啄木鸟 zhuó-mù-niǎo, literally 'peck wood bird'. The Taiwanese common names drop the 鸟 niǎo 'bird' to yield 啄木 zhuó-mù (literally 'peck wood'). Sometimes called 凿木鸟 záo-mù-niǎo ('drill wood bird').

䴕 liè is a rather older Chinese word for woodpecker, now found only in some official names (e.g., the name of the Wryneck 蚁䴕 yǐ-liè 'ant lie').

Dialect terms for 'woodpecker' include 锛打木 bēn-dǎ-mù 'adze-strike-tree', 锛得儿木 bēn-dér-mù 'adze-get-tree', and 锛啄儿鸟 bēn-zhuó-niǎo 'adze-peck bird'.

Japanese: Woodpeckers are commonly known in Japanese as キツツキ ki-tsutsuki or 'wood-peckers' (ki = 'wood', tsutsuku = 'to peck'). This would logically be written 木啄, and indeed this is how it is written in the haiku of the great poet Basho in the 17th century, but present-day Japanese normally writes ki-tsutsuki with the Chinese name, 啄木鳥.

Scientifically, the word キツツキ ki-tsutsuki is used only in the family name キツツキ科 Ki-tsutsuki ka (Picidae) and the common name of Picumnus innominatus (Speckled piculet).

Most woodpeckers use the literary term ケラ kera (or -gera in combination) to form the common name. In Chinese characters, ケラ kera and キツツキ ki-tsutsuki are written exactly the same, i.e., with the Chinese name 啄木鳥.

The Wryneck is known as the アリスイ ari-sui or 'ant-sucker'.

Other names include:

テラツツキ tera-tsutsuki 'temple-pecker', written 寺啄

タクボク takuboku 'wood-pecker', written 啄木

Vietnamese:

The woodpeckers in Vietnamese are known as Gõ kiến 'knock ant' (or Chim gõ kiến 'knock ant bird'). Other names are:

Chim mổ kiến 'peck ant bird'
Chim gõ mõ 'beat wooden fish bird' (as a Buddhist priest beats the wooden fish while praying)
Chim vẽ bùa 'draw charm (unpick charm?) bird'

The Wryneck is known as Vẹo cổ ('twisted neck').