链球菌（Streptococcus）是一类球形的革兰氏阳性细菌，属于厚壁菌门的一个属。这些细菌细胞分裂时总是沿一个轴，所以通常成对或者链状的。因为这些特征，他们被称作“链球菌”，区别于可以沿多个轴分裂而形成一团细胞的“葡萄球菌”（Staphylococcus）。链球菌属包含了很多个种,其中多数是在人和动物表皮,呼吸道等处的共生菌（commensal flora）, 也有对人类有益的菌种如嗜热链球菌（Streptococcus thermophilus）,但其中也有相当数量的致病菌种.

Streptococcus is a genus of coccus (spherical) Gram-positive bacteria belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria). Cell division in this genus occurs along a single axis in these bacteria, thus they grow in chains or pairs, hence the name—from Greek στρεπτός streptos, meaning easily bent or twisted, like a chain (twisted chain). (Contrast this with staphylococci, which divide along multiple axes and generate grape-like clusters of cells.)