The tawny-flanked prinia was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his account on a hand coloured engraving by François-Nicolas Martinet that was published to accompany the Comte de Buffon's multi-volume work, the Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.

The pale prinia (P. somalica) of North-east Africa is similar but paler and greyer with whitish flanks.

The river prinia (P. fluviatilis) of West Africa is also paler and greyer and has a longer tail.

It is absent from much of the Congo Basin, southern Namibia, south-west Botswana and the western half of South Africa.

It is found amongst shrubs and grass in a variety of habitats including woodland, savanna and cultivated areas.