Five novel lactic acid bacterial strains, isolated from Chinese traditional pickle juice, were characterised by a polyphasic approach, including 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, pheS gene sequence analysis, rpoA gene sequence analysis, determination of DNA G+C content, average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis, in silico DNA-DNA hybridisation (isDDH), fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis and an analysis of phenotypic features. Strains 241-2-2T, 63-4T and 190-7T were closely related to the type strains of Enterococcus devriesei, Enterococcus viikkiensis, Enterococcus pseudoavium, Enterococcus xiangfangensis, Enterococcus avium, Enterococcus malodoratus, Enterococcus raffinosus and Enterococcus gilvus, having 99.1-99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. Strain 94-2T was distantly related to the type strains of Enterococcus phoeniculicola, Enterococcus rivorum and Enterococcus faecalis, having 95.2-96.1 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. Strain 85-4T was distantly related to the type strains of Enterococcus casseliflavus, Enterococcus gallinarum, Enterococcus dispar, Enterococcus canintestini, Enterococcus saigonensis, Enterococcus diestrammenae, Enterococcus asini, Enterococcus cecorum and Enterococcus columbae, having 95.7-97.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. Less than 91.5 % ANI and 45.3 % isDDH values between strains 241-2-2T, 63-4T, 190-7T, 94-2T, 85-4T and type strains of phylogenetically related species showed that they represent five new species within the genus Enterococcus. Based upon the data of polyphasic characterisation obtained in the present study, five novel species, Enterococcus pingfangensis sp. nov., Enterococcus dongliensis sp. nov., Enterococcus hulanensis sp. nov., Enterococcus nangangensis sp. nov. and Enterococcus songbeiensis sp. nov., are proposed and the type strains are 241-2-2T (=NCIMB 15185T=CCM 8921T=LMG 31181T), 63-4T (=NCIMB 15178T=CCM 8922T), 190-7T (=NCIMB 15200T=CCM 8949T), 94-2T (=NCIMB 15180T=CCM 8920T=LMG 31180T) and 85-4T (=NCIMB 15179T=CCM 8923T=LMG 31183T), respectively.