动名词（gerund）在拉丁语和英语语法，是一种非限定动词形式，可以有名词的功能性。在英语动名词的结尾为<-ing>(例如:"I enjoy playing basketball./我很喜欢打篮球/")；同样的动词形式也可作为英语现在分词(其中有形容词或副词的功能)，以及作为一个纯粹的动词性名词(Verbal noun)。动名词即在表示动词的动作(例如，<playing(玩)>是表示<to play(去玩)>的动作) 。在某些情况下，一个名词以(-ing)结尾有时作为一个动名词(如"I like building.(我喜欢建筑)"/"I like building things.(我喜欢建筑的东西)"，"I like painting.(我喜欢画画)"/"I like painting pictures.(我喜欢绘画的照片)"，以及"I like writing.(我喜欢写作)"/"I like writing novels.(我喜欢写小说)")，而在其他时候作为一个非动名词而表示出从一个动作所产生的产品(如"I work in that building.(我在那栋楼工作)"，"That is a good painting.(这是一幅很好的画)"，和"Her writing is good.(她的文笔不错)")。后者的情况下经常可以由一个出现在限定词(detrminer)之前的名词区分开来，在这些范例中比如:"that(那个)"，或"her(她)"等限定词。

Gerund (/ˈdʒɛrənd/ or /ˈdʒɛrʌnd/) is a term in Latin grammar for a verb form that functions as a noun. Traditionally, the term has been applied to verbal nouns in other languages. In English, the term has been applied to -ing forms in certain uses. Traditional grammar made a distinction within -ing forms between present participles and gerunds, a distinction that is not observed in such modern linguistically-informed grammars as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language and The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language.