脚本语言（英语：Scripting language）是为了缩短传统的「编写、编译、链接、运行」（edit-compile-link-run）过程而创建的计算机编程语言。此命名起源于一个脚本「screenplay」，每次运行都会使对话框逐字重复。早期的脚本语言经常被称为批处理语言或工作控制语言。一个脚本通常是解释运行而非编译。脚本语言通常都有简单、易学、易用的特性，目的就是希望能让程序员快速完成程序的编写工作。而巨集语言则可视为脚本语言的分支，两者也有实质上的相同之处。

虽然许多脚本语言都超越了计算机简单任务自动化的领域，成熟到可以编写精巧的进程，但仍然还是被称为脚本。几乎所有计算机系统的各个层次都有一种脚本语言。包括操作系统层，如计算机游戏，网络应用进程，字处理文档，网络软件等。在许多方面，高级编程语言和脚本语言之间互相交叉，二者之间没有明确的界限。

A scripting or script language is a programming language that supports scripts, programs written for a special run-time environment that automate the execution of tasks that could alternatively be executed one-by-one by a human operator. Scripting languages are often interpreted (rather than compiled). Primitives are usually the elementary tasks or API calls, and the language allows them to be combined into more complex programs. Environments that can be automated through scripting include software applications, web pages within a web browser, the shells of operating systems (OS), embedded systems, as well as numerous games. A scripting language can be viewed as a domain-specific language for a particular environment; in the case of scripting an application, this is also known as an extension language. Scripting languages are also sometimes referred to as very high-level programming languages, as they operate at a high level of abstraction, or as control languages, particularly for job control languages on mainframes.