meme

Where does the word "meme" come from? It comes from Greek mímēma, and was adopted directly into English (1976).

Meme’s story begins in Greek: mímēma meant “imitation.” 'something imitated'; Plato's Republic, Book 10, dismisses art as a mimēma, an imitation of an imitation. It reached English by 1976 as meme. Richard Dawkins clipped mimeme to rhyme with 'gene' in The Selfish Gene (1976), for a unit of culture passed on by imitation; 'internet meme' followed in the 1990s-2000s. Today, meme means an idea or image copied and spread online; a unit of cultural transmission.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient mímēma "imitation", 'something imitated'; Plato's Republic, Book 10, dismisses art as a mimēma, an imitation of an imitation.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1976 meme "unit of cultural imitation", Richard Dawkins clipped mimeme to rhyme with 'gene' in The Selfish Gene (1976), for a unit of culture passed on by imitation; 'internet meme' followed in the 1990s-2000s.