A taunt is a battle cry, a method in hand-to-hand combat, sarcastic remark, or insult intended to make demoralize the recipient, or to anger them and encourage reactionary behaviors without thinking. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the target's cultural capital (i.e. status). In sociological theory, the control of the three social capitals is used to produce an advantage in the social hierarchy as to enforce one's own position in relation to others.

Taunting is committed by either directly bullying, or indirectly encouraging others to bully the target. It is also possible to give a response of the same kind, to ensure one's own status. It can be compared to fighting words and trash-talk.

Taunts are also a genre of Folklore. The act of taunting can be learned by observation and improvisation. It usually follows linear thought, correlating or building in some manner to the target of taunting.

Things such as the victim's appearance, intelligence, mannerisms, education, background, past offenses, etc. can otherwise be insulted. When used in this manner, the effectiveness of a taunt at provoking a response varies depending on how the specific insult relates to its victim (or their sense of self), to what level of offense they regard the taunt, and how well the victim can control their emotions when responding.

Children across numerous cultures frequently set their taunts to a single basic, universal melody (, ), with different words or nonsense syllables chosen by children speaking different languages. This melody is commonly known as either "Ring Around the Rosie" or "It's Raining, It's Pouring". In English, the melody is frequently set to the nonsense syllables "Nana nana na-na" (in the American South often "Nanny nanny boo-boo") and is often repeated with words such as "You ca-an't catch me." In French, the taunt uses syllables often rendered "Nananananère," and Swedish-speaking children use the phrase "Du kan inte ta mig" ("You cannot catch me").

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