# [−]Keyword dyn

`dyn` is a prefix of a trait object's type.

The `dyn` keyword is used to highlight that calls to methods on the associated `Trait` are dynamically dispatched. To use the trait this way, it must be 'object safe'.

Unlike generic parameters or `impl Trait`, the compiler does not know the concrete type that is being passed. That is, the type has been erased. As such, a `dyn Trait` reference contains two pointers. One pointer goes to the data (e.g., an instance of a struct). Another pointer goes to a map of method call names to function pointers (known as a virtual method table or vtable).

At run-time, when a method needs to be called on the `dyn Trait`, the vtable is consulted to get the function pointer and then that function pointer is called.

## Trade-offs

The above indirection is the additional runtime cost of calling a function on a `dyn Trait`. Methods called by dynamic dispatch generally cannot be inlined by the compiler.

However, `dyn Trait` is likely to produce smaller code than `impl Trait` / generic parameters as the method won't be duplicated for each concrete type.

Read more about `object safety` and trait objects.