The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin phasianus, "pheasant". The species name colchicus is Latin for "of Colchis" (modern day Georgia), a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans.[2] Phasianus diverged from the genus Gallus, the genus of junglefowl and domesticated chickens, about 20 million years ago.