The article is a theoretical study of the concept of the embedded genre. Its focus is on Rhetorical Genre Studies, but it draws from other traditions of genre research as well. The articleunderstandsan embedded genre asa genre that is included within the framework of another genre. By discussing a tentative distinction between three kinds of embedding, “recontextualized embedding”(from Bakhtin),“contextualized embedding”(from Orlikowski & Yates), and “element genre”(from Swales and Martin), the present study aimsto establishelements of aconceptual foundation for a theory of embedded genres. Genre research needs such a theory, because embedding is integral to genre and present in all extended genre use in language. If we are to understand a genre, we need to analyze both how it interacts with its surroundings, and what its constituent elements are. Genre embedding is crucial to both. Therefore, genre researchcan profit from integrating an expanded understanding of genre embedding in its theoretical deliberations and its analytical work.