Melanocichla is a genus of birds in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae.
The genus Melanocichla was introduced in 1883 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe to accommodate a single species, the black laughingthrush, which is therefore the type species of the genus. The name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" with kikhlkikhlÃÂ meaning "thrush".
A 2019 molecular phylogenetic study found that the genus Melanocichla was sister to the genus Pomatorhinus containing the scimitar babblers.
The genus contains the following species: