A kenning is a figure of speech in which a two-word phrase replaces a one-word noun. It is a type of circumlocution that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English poetry. A kenning has two parts: a base-word (also known as a head-word) and a determinant. The base-word is the thing, person, place, or being to which the kenning refers, and the determinant is a descriptive word or phrase that provides additional information about the base-word. For example, the base-word of the kenning "íss rauðra randa" (icicle of red shields .

Kennings are often used in poetry for effect, and they were first used in Anglo-Saxon and Norse poetry. The famous Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf uses many kennings, such as "bone-house" for body, "battle-light" for sword, "wave-floater" for ship, and "whale-road" for sea. Some scholars take the term kenning broadly to include any noun-substitute consisting of two or more elements, including merely descriptive epithets, while others would restrict it to metaphorical instances.

At the center of every kenning is a simile, and kennings help to describe things poetically by using metaphorical or figurative language that can change the way readers see or think about the thing being described. While kennings are most common and noticeable in Old English and Norse poetry, there are some modern phrases or idioms that fit the general kenning form.