meme

Pluralmemes

Formsmemes, memeing, memed

1. 1
   internet jokenouncountable

   An image, video, piece of text or other item that is copied and shared widely online, often with small changes each time, usually as a joke.

   Like a folk tune that shifts a bit each time a new singer picks it up.

   The format of that meme got reused thousands of times within a week.

   Within days, the meme had spawned thousands of versions, each with a new caption.

   Note

   The word reached the internet early. In 1994 Mike Godwin, writing in Wired, could still observe that most people online had never heard of memes or memetics. Here a meme is the adaptable format, a picture or video template that keeps being copied with small changes. The same word names each single captioned image or clip made from the format. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The word was used in internet contexts by 1994, when Mike Godwin wrote in Wired that most people online had never heard of memes or memetics. wired.com
2. 2
   cultural ideanouncountable

   A unit of cultural information (a practice or idea) passed from one mind to another by speech or imitation, in a way comparable to how genes are transmitted.

   A religious ritual can survive for centuries as a meme, copied faithfully from one generation to the next.

   Cultural theorists treat a catchy jingle as a meme, since it spreads from one mind to the next as people hum it and pass it on.

   Note

   Richard Dawkins coined the word in The Selfish Gene (1976) by shortening mimeme, from Greek mīmēma, 'something imitated', so that it would sound like gene. His own list ranged from tunes and catch-phrases to ways of making pots or building arches. Related memes are said to cluster into meme-complexes such as religions and political ideologies. Culturgen is a rival term. Every internet sense of the word grew from this one. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

   • Richard Dawkins coined meme in The Selfish Gene. en.wikipedia.org
   • The Selfish Gene was first published in 1976. agathonlibrary.com
   • Meme shortens mimeme, derives from Greek mīmēma meaning something imitated, and was modeled on gene. en.wikipedia.org
   • Dawkins's examples included tunes, catch-phrases, making pots and building arches. rubinghscience.org
   • Religions and political ideologies are described as complexes of related memes. en.wikipedia.org
   • Culturgen is an alternative term for a cultural unit comparable to a meme. en.wikipedia.org
   • The internet senses derive from the original cultural-information sense; Wiktionary groups them under the same etymology. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   forum challenge entrynouncountable

   A piece of work that members of an online group make and post when someone sets a prompt or offers a suggestion.

   Each Tuesday the host picks a theme, and dozens of book bloggers write their own version of the meme and link back to her page.

   After a friend tagged her, she filled out the twenty-question meme on her journal and invited five more people to do the same.

   Note

   Online groups use the word for a prompt-and-response exchange. A kink meme hosts such exchanges; an anon meme may instead be a space for anonymous discussion. In this sense a meme is something one member makes to answer another's request, not something copied. The idea of passing through a group survives, but the joke is gone. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • A kink meme hosts requests and responses, but an anon meme can simply be a space for anonymous discussion. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To make and share memes, or to turn someone or something into a meme.

   Activists meme political slogans to push their message into the mainstream.

   By Friday, students had memed the principal's favorite saying so thoroughly that he started quoting the jokes back to them.

   UsageOften passive (got memed), or meme something into existence.

   Note

   Scott Greer's 2016 tweet credited the activist Mike Cernovich with having "memed #SickHillary into reality." Memeify does the same work. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • In 2016, Scott Greer tweeted that Mike Cernovich had "memed #SickHillary into reality." newyorker.com

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