Serinus is a genus of small birds in the finch family Fringillidae found in West Asia, Europe and Africa.

The genus was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch.

[5][6][7] This was confirmed by Dario Zuccon and coworkers in a comprehensive study of the finch family published in 2012.

The authors suggested splitting the genus into two monophyletic groups, a proposal that was accepted by the International Ornithologists' Union.

The genus Serinus was restricted to the European serin and seven other species while a larger clade from Africa and Arabia was assigned to the resurrected genus Crithagra.