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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

meme.

Any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/miːm/
  1. Any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a comparable way to the transmission of genes.

  2. Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc.

    Internet
    He posted a meme that went viral within a few hours on social media.
    He stuck memes on the wall to campaign for the position of President.
  3. A specific instance of a meme, such as an image macro or a video, often with humorous superimposed text.

    Internet
    This meme generator lets you make your own memes by adding a caption to existing images, or by uploading your own image.
    I'm always posting memes on the groupchat.
  4. Something which is deceptive; a trick, a ruse.

    Internet · derogatory
    It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.
    I can't believe I fell for the bulking meme.
  5. Something not to be taken seriously; a joke.

    Internet · derogatory
    It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.
    Jogging is a meme.
  6. A work produced and shared in response to a prompt or suggestion within an online group.

    Internet
    kink meme
    anon meme
Where this word comes from

Clipping of mimeme, equivalent to mime + -eme. Coined by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. Shortened (after gene) from mimeme (compare English phoneme), anglicized as if from a noun derived from Ancient Greek μῑμέομαι (mīméomai) with the deverbal suffix -μα (-ma), from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitation, copy”). The concept was later applied to the Internet by Mike Godwin.

verb/miːm/
  1. To create and use humorous memes.

    Internet · intransitive
  2. To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve a goal in real life.

    Internet · transitive
  3. To joke around.

    Internet · broadly · intransitive
Where this word comes from

Clipping of mimeme, equivalent to mime + -eme. Coined by British biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. Shortened (after gene) from mimeme (compare English phoneme), anglicized as if from a noun derived from Ancient Greek μῑμέομαι (mīméomai) with the deverbal suffix -μα (-ma), from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitation, copy”). The concept was later applied to the Internet by Mike Godwin.

noun
  1. Granny; nana.

    informal
Where this word comes from

From French mémé (“granny”).

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meme studiomeme workshello, meme

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.