Chastushka (Russian: частушка, IPA: [tɕɪsˈtuʂkə], pl. chastushki) is a traditional musical genre of short Russian humorous folk song. Usually associated with high beat frequency, thus the name, coined from Russian: частый in the meaning of "quick". While the root of chastushki can be traced to ancient folklore of dance and wedding songs as well as performances of balagurs (Russian version of minstrels), the genre itself had crystallized fairly recently, in the last third of the 19th century, under the influence of social shifts caused by the abolition of serfdom and industrialization. Spread of the squeezebox in the mid-19th century and its use for the accompaniment created partial separation of chastushki from dance music.

In 1889, Gleb Uspensky was the first researcher to identify the new poetic form and assign the name "chastushki" to it. Typically many chastushki are sung one after another. Chastushki make use of a simple rhyming scheme to convey humorous or ironic content. The singing and recitation of such rhymes were an important part of popular culture of peasants and industrial workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The close equivalent of chastushki in the Western culture is limerick.

Most chastushki use a single metre, trochaic tetrameter, making it easy to combine the verses and share the refrain, the syllables within the lines of a typical four-line verse are arranged as 8+7+8+7. Typical song consists of one four-lined couplet, full of humor, satire or irony.

The name originates from the Russian word "часто" ("chasto") – "frequently", or from "частить" ("chastit"), meaning "to do something with high frequency" and probably refers to the high beat frequency of chastushki.

The basic form is a simple four-line verse making use of an ${\displaystyle \mathrm {ABAB} }$, ${\displaystyle \mathrm {ABCB} }$, or ${\displaystyle \mathrm {AABB} }$ rhyme scheme.

Usually humorous, satirical, or ironic in nature, chastushki are often put to music as well, usually with balalaika or accordion accompaniment. The rigid, short structure (and, to a lesser degree, the type of humor used) parallels the poetic genre of limericks in British culture.

Sometimes several chastushki are delivered in sequence to form a song. After each chastushka, there is a full musical refrain without lyrics to give the listeners a chance to laugh without missing the next one. Originally chastushki were a form of folk entertainment, not intended to be performed on stage. Often they are sung in turns by a group of people. Sometimes they are used as a medium for a back-and-forth mocking contest. Improvisation is highly valued during chastushka singing.