Malkohas are large birds in the cuckoo family Cuculidae, all in the genus Phaenicophaeus. The group name is derived from the Sinhala word for the red-faced malkoha; Mal-Koha meaning flower-cuckoo. These are all Asian tropical species. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek phoiniko- "crimson", and phaes "eyes" or "face", referring to the red-faced malkoha. However, the 'œ' was mistranscribed as 'æ'.