meme

meme · noun, verb¹

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromμῑμέομαι
2. English todaymeme

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.

meme · noun²

1. French · borrowed frommémé“granny”
2. English todaymeme

From French mémé (“granny”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1993 Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc.