It is a small species generally found in or near bodies of fresh water across much of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Adult birds in summer have short red legs and a short black bill (small and stubby, measuring 22–25 mm from the feathers, decidedly shorter than the head), a black neck (often with a pale gray back) and belly, very dark grey back, with a white rump and light grey (almost white) tail, which often looks 'square' in juveniles.

In juveniles and moulting adults, the rump is pale gray, becoming grey in both phases late in the year.

[4][5] Their breeding habitat is freshwater marshes across from southeast Europe to Central Asia and the Russian Far East.

The white-winged tern is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.