The Eurasian golden oriole was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae and given the binomial name Coracias oriolus.

[5][6] Support for this split was provided by a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010,[7] and most ornithologists now treat the Indian golden oriole as a separate species.

[9] Albertus Magnus used the Latin form oriolus in about 1250 and erroneously stated that it was onomatopoeic because of the golden oriole's song.

The male is striking in the typical oriole black and yellow plumage, but the female is a drabber green bird.

Orioles are shy, and even the male is remarkably difficult to see in the dappled yellow and green leaves of the canopy.

Its call is a harsh "kweeaahk", but the song is a fluting weela-wee-ooo or or-iii-ole, unmistakable once heard, often with subtle variations between each phrase.

[10] The male of the Indian golden oriole (Oriolus kundoo) has a black eye-stripe extending behind the eye, has a longer and paler red bill and has more yellow in the plumage.

The nest is held in place by plant fibres up to 40 cm (16 in) in length and lined with fine grass, feathers and wool.

[17] The greatest recorded age for a Eurasian golden oriole is 10 years and 1 month for a male that was ringed in Lincolnshire in 1986 and seen alive in Cambridgeshire in 1996.