The genus name Tringa is the Neo-Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle.

Among them, these three species show all the basic leg and foot colours found in the shanks, demonstrating that this character is paraphyletic.

The greater yellowlegs and the common greenshank share a coarse, dark, and fairly crisp breast pattern as well as much black on the shoulders and back in breeding plumage.

It is a migratory species, wintering in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Australasia, usually on fresh water.

[citation needed] The common greenshank is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.