Phaenicophaeus is a genus of seven species of cuckoos in the family Cuculidae that are found in South and Southeast Asia.

The genus Phaenicophaeus was introduced in 1815 by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens.

He included three species in the genus but in 1940 James L. Peters designated one of these, Cuculus pyrrhocephalus Pennant, 1769 (the red-faced malkoha), as the type species.

[1][2] The genus name is from Ancient Greek φοινικοφαης (phoinikophaēs) meaning "of crimson appearance" or "red-gleaming".

[3] The genus contains seven species.