Coined by Dawkins in 1976 from Greek 'mimema' (imitation), shortened to rhyme with 'gene' — a unit of cultural replication.
An element of culture or behavior passed from one individual to another by imitation; in modern usage, an image, video, or piece of text that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with variations.
Coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book 'The Selfish Gene.' Dawkins wanted a word for a unit of cultural transmission analogous to the gene in biological evolution. He derived it from Ancient Greek 'μίμημα' (mīmēma, 'that which is imitated'), from 'μιμεῖσθαι' (mīmeisthai, 'to imitate'), and shortened it to 'meme' to rhyme with 'gene.' Dawkins explicitly chose the monosyllable to echo the pattern of 'gene' and to suggest the French
Richard Dawkins deliberately shortened Greek 'mimeme' to 'meme' so it would be a monosyllable rhyming with 'gene' — reinforcing the analogy between cultural and genetic replication. He also wanted it to evoke French 'même' (same), since memes replicate by staying the same as they spread. Dawkins has expressed bemusement at the internet meaning, noting that internet memes — which mutate rapidly as users alter them — actually demonstrate his original concept better than he imagined, since they evolve through variation and selection
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