meme

See also: Appendix:Variations of "meme"

Languages (23)

English

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English

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: mēm, IPA^(key): /miːm/
• Rhymes: -iːm

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

meme (plural memes)

1. (originally) 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.

   Synonym: culturgen

   • 1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene:

     Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.

   • 1988, Noam Chomsky, Massey Lectures (Necessary Illusions):

     For most of the population, the media system is, I think, a different one. It's not just the case that it tries to entertain them. It tries to entertain them through memes, which will intensify attitudes that support the interests of elites.

   • 2002, Rita Carter, Exploring Consciousness, page 242:

     Related memes tend to form mutually supporting meme-complexes such as religions, political ideologies, scientific theories, and New Age dogmas.

   • 2014, James Lambert, “A Much Tortured Expression: A New Look At ‘Hobson-Jobson’”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 27, number 1, page 67:

     The original Hobson and Jobson stock comic characters have died out as a meme, as has the application of their names to the Muharram in India.

3. (Internet) Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc. [from 1993]

   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.

   • 1994 January 10, Mike Godwin, “Meme, Counter-meme”, in Wired‎^[2]:

     Not everyone saw the comparison to Nazis as a "meme" - most people on the Net, as elsewhere, had never heard of "memes" or "memetics." But now that we're living in an increasingly information-aware culture, it's time for that to change.

   • 2005, darklily, “OT: Livejournal”, in soc.sexuality.general (Usenet):

     I do...but my journal is a mess. It's mostly filled with memes and my bitching about a house I am building.

   • 2012, Greg Jarboe, You Tube and Video Marketing, 2nd edition:

     The idea was to append Keyboard Cat to the end of a blooper video to "play" that person offstage after a mistake or gaffe, like getting the hook in the days of vaudeville. The meme became popular, Ashton Kutcher tweeted about it to more than 1 million followers, and more than 4,000 such videos have now been made.

   • 2012 March 28, Trey Parker, “Faith Hilling”, in South Park, season 16, episode 3, spoken by Reporter:

     This latest Internet meme is shocking. But most shocking of all is the person who started the meme isn't a person at all, but a cat who seems to have no regard for people's safety.

   • 2013 February 8, Tim Jonze, “Harlem Shake meme: the new Gangnam Style?”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Harlem Shake meme: the new Gangnam Style? [headline]

   • 2017 December 15, Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Life on the Meme Council: Meet the Internet’s Gatekeepers”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN:

     Social networks produce inside jokes at a relentless pace. The best, worst, stupidest and funniest of those jokes become memes, and either you get them or you don’t.

   • 2019 December 31, AJ Willingham, “All the trends we loved and hated in the 2010s”, in CNN‎^[5]:

     Haha, memes are funny! Until they totally become racist. Pepe the Frog lived a very normal meme life right up until online trolls turned him into a green thing of hate in 2016. It got so bad his creator symbolically killed him off in 2017.

   • 2021 April 29, Marie Fazio, quoting Ben Lashes, “The World Knows Her as ‘Disaster Girl.’ She Just Made $500,000 Off the Meme.”, in The New York Times‎^[6], →ISSN:

     He said that NFT sales had helped establish memes as a sophisticated art form and “serious pieces of culture.”

4. (Internet) A specific instance of a meme, such as an image macro or a video, often with humorous superimposed text.

   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.

5. (Internet slang, derogatory) Something which is deceptive; a trick, a ruse.

   It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.

   I can't believe I fell for the bulking meme.

6. (Internet slang, derogatory) Something not to be taken seriously; a joke.

   It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.

   Jogging is a meme.

7. (Internet) A work produced and shared in response to a prompt or suggestion within an online group.

   kink meme

   anon meme

Derived terms

• animation meme
• anon meme
• antimeme
• countermeme
• dank meme
• ememe
• Facebook meme
• forced meme
• kink meme
• maymay
• memeable
• meme coin
• memedom
• memehood
• memeification
• memeify
• memeless
• memelike
• memelord
• meme magic
• memeplex
• meme pool
• memer
• memery
• memescape
• meme-speak
• memester
• meme stock
• memetic
• memetic algorithm
• memetic engineering
• memetics
• memeverse
• memeworthy
• memey
• memic
• meming
• memocide
• memology
• memome
• memosphere
• teme

Related terms

• mimesis

Descendants

Descendants

• → Arabic: مِيم (mīm)
• → Azerbaijani: mem
• → Catalan: mem
• → Cebuano: meme
• → Czech: mem
• → Danish: meme
• → Dutch: meme
• → Esperanto: memeo
• → Estonian: meem
• → Finnish: meemi
• → French: mème
• → Galician: meme
• → German: Mem, Meme
• → Hebrew: מֶם
• → Hindi: मीम (mīm)
• → Hungarian: mém
• → Indonesian: meme
• → Japanese: ミーム
• → Korean: 밈 (mim)
• → Macedonian: мем (mem)
• → Iranian Persian: میم (mim)
• → Polish: mem
• → Portuguese: meme
• → Romanian: memă
• → Russian: мем (mem)
• → Serbo-Croatian: mim, мим
• → Spanish: meme
• → Swedish: mem, meme
• → Ukrainian: мем (mem)
• → Vietnamese: meme
• → Yiddish: מים (mim)

Translations

unit of cultural information

• Afrikaans: meem
• Arabic: مِيم (ar) m (mīm)
• Belarusian: мем m (mjem)
• Breton: mim m
• Bulgarian: мем m (mem)
• Catalan: mem (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 模因 (zh) (móyīn), 迷迷 (zh) (mímí), 米姆 (mǐmǔ), 迷因 (zh) (míyīn), 彌 / 弥 (zh) (mí), 梗 (zh) (gěng)

• Czech: mem (cs) m
• Dutch: meme (nl), meem m
• Esperanto: memeo
• Estonian: meem
• Finnish: meemi (fi)
• French: mème (fr) m
• Galician: meme (gl)
• German: Mem (de) n
• Greek: μιμίδιο (el) n (mimídio)
• Hebrew: מֵם (he) m (mem)
• Hindi: मीम f (mīm)
• Hungarian: mém (hu)
• Ido: memo
• Indonesian: meme (id)
• Irish: gné f
• Italian: meme (it) m
• Japanese: ミーム (ja) (mīmu)
• Korean: 밈 (mim)
• Latin: mīmēma n
• Macedonian: мем m (mem), ја́сјас m (jásjas)
• Norwegian: mem
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: میم (fa) (mim)

• Polish: mem (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: meme (pt) m
• Romanian: memă (ro) f
• Russian: мем (ru) m (mem)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ме̑м m

  Latin: mȇm (sh) m

• Spanish: meme (es) m
• Swedish: mem (sv) c
• Thai: มีม (th) (miim)
• Turkish: mem (tr)
• Ukrainian: мем m (mem)
• Yiddish: מעמע f (meme)

media copied and circulated online

• Arabic: مِيم (ar) m (mīm), م (ar) m (mīm), ميمي m (mīmī)
• Breton: mim m
• Bulgarian: мем m (mem)
• Catalan: mem (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 模因 (zh) (móyīn), 迷迷 (zh) (mímí), 米姆 (mǐmǔ), 迷因 (zh) (míyīn), 彌 / 弥 (zh) (mí), 梗 (zh) (gěng), 哏 (zh) (gén)

• Cornish: mim m
• Dutch: meme (nl)
• Esperanto: memeo
• Estonian: meem
• Finnish: meemi (fi)
• French: mème (fr) m
• Galician: meme (gl) m
• German: Meme (de)
• Hebrew: מימ m (mim), מם (he) (mem)
• Hindi: मीम f (mīm)
• Hungarian: mém (hu)
• Icelandic: jarm (is) n
• Ido: memo
• Indonesian: meme (id)
• Irish: méim f
• Italian: meme (it) m
• Japanese: ミーム (ja) (mīmu)
• Korean: 밈 (mim)
• Latin: mīmēma n
• Macedonian: мем m (mem)
• Māori: atakata
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: میم (fa) (mim)

• Polish: mem (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: meme (pt) m
• Romanian: memă (ro) f
• Russian: мем (ru) m (mem)
• Scottish Gaelic: mìm f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мим

  Latin: mim (sh)

• Slovak: mém m, memečko n (slang)
• Spanish: meme (es) m, momo (es) m (internet slang)
• Swedish: meme (sv) n or c
• Thai: มีม (th) (miim)
• Turkish: göğüs (tr), meme (tr)
• Ukrainian: мем m (mem)
• Welsh: meim m or f
• Yiddish: מים m (mim)

See also

• chain letter
• forward
• replicator

Verb

meme (third-person singular simple present memes, present participle memeing or meming, simple past and past participle memed)

1. (intransitive, Internet slang) To create and use humorous memes.
   • 2012 March 28, Trey Parker, “Faith Hilling”, in South Park, season 16, episode 3, spoken by Lamont:

     Yesterday afternoon four kids went to the hospital for injuries resulting from memeing in front of a local cafe. Faith Hilling, Taylor Swifting. These are things that will get you killed!

   • 2018, Eric W. Saeger, Russian Nazi Troll Bots!:

     One axiom commonly seen on /pol/ is "The Left Can't Meme"; in other words, left-wing meme jokes aren't funny.

2. (transitive, Internet slang) To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve a goal in real life.

   Synonym: memeify

   • 2016 October 31, Andrew Marantz, “Trolls for Trump”, in The New Yorker‎^[7], retrieved 2 December 2017:

     Scott Greer, a deputy editor of the Daily Caller, tweeted, “Cernovich memed #SickHillary into reality. Never doubt the power of memes.”

   • 2017 November 6, “David Moyes to West Ham “memed into existence by the internet””, in Football Burp‎^[8], retrieved 2 December 2017:

     David Moyes succeeding Slaven Bilić as West Ham United manager is being memed into existence by the internet, Football Burp understands.

   • 2022 September 22, Jess Thomson, “‘Becoming a meme totally helps a show’: is TV being written with epic gifs in mind?”, in The Guardian‎^[9]:

     “Succession’s language is so specific, unique and captivating that nearly every line is worthy of being ‘memed’, even if it’s just somebody saying ‘fuck off’ or ‘bad tweet!’” she says.

   • 2024 March 5, Gabriella Paiella, quoting Messineo, “Why ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Became One of the Most Memed Films of the Year”, in GQ‎^[10]:

     In my experience the films that typically get memed are either really terrible (Madame Web), so huge that they’re everywhere (Barbie), or have a cast stacked with familiar faces so the memes cast a wide net for potential sharing.

3. (intransitive, Internet slang, by extension) To joke around.
   • 2004 May 17, you, “Truth vs. Lies”, in alt.slack (Usenet):

     actually, it wasn't my mental functioning. i'm just meming.

   • 2018 December 13, Aja Romano, “YouTube’s most popular user amplified anti-Semitic rhetoric. Again.”, in Vox:

     “[P]ewdiepie is, once again, doing exactly what neo-nazis want,” Kotaku reporter Nathan Grayson commented on Twitter in response to the incident. “[W]hether he’s just meming or he ascribes to these values, it doesn’t matter. [W]hat matters is that he normalizes these ideas as jokes on THE platform where kids increasingly get their first exposure to the world at large.”

   • 2019, Rachel Monroe, Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession, →ISBN:

     Some of his fellow fascists thought he was just “meming and pranking”; others dismissed it as “some autistic phase.”

Derived terms

• meme on

Further reading

• meme on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Internet meme on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “meme”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Etymology 2

From French mémé (“granny”).

Noun

meme (plural memes)

1. (informal, term of endearment) Granny; nana.
   • 2011, David G. Atwood II, Into Hell I Rode, page 32:

     When my parents got a divorce my dad washed his hands of my mom and me. He just pretended neither she nor I existed. If it weren't for my Meme, I would have lost all contact with the Atwood family after the divorce.

   • 2014, Sarah O'Malley, Touching the Edge of Heaven, page 3:

     Then there was my Meme, my father's mother. She was one of the most wonderful, loving, craziest, funniest people I ever had in my life.

Anagrams

• meem

Bangi

Verb

meme

1. to carry

Cebuano

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Verb

meme

1. (childish) to sleep

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English meme.

Noun

meme

1. a meme

Danish

Noun

meme

1. meme
   • 2019, Stine Bødker, Klar til kærlighed, Gyldendal A/S, →ISBN:

     Hvis du lige har taget et fint billede og fundet på en sjov caption, så hav det klar til at dele, kort efter I bliver venner, så du er sikker på, at han ser det. Tag ham i et sjovt meme eller et billede af noget, som I har talt om. Det er en ret low-key måde  ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2019, Andreas von der Recke, Jacob Harlev, Mikkel Sandal Hansen, Patrick Walther Thomsen, #Youngster: 5 dogmer til at tiltrække og fastholde millennials, BoD – Books on Demand, →ISBN, page 19:

     Hvis det ikke var for ham, kunne vi nok skrive 2018 på denne bogs udgivelsesdato. Hvis du kan finde et godt meme (Google billeder: memes) at åbne samtalen med Mikkel på, har du vundet hans hjerte. Men han respekterer kun dem, der kan ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English meme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛmɛ/, /ˈmim/

Noun

meme (plural meme-meme)

1. meme

References

• “meme”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English meme.

Pronunciation

• (Italianized) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.me/, /ˈme.me/
  • Rhymes: -ɛme, -eme
  • Hyphenation: mè‧me, mé‧me
• (English-based) IPA^(key): /ˈmim/, /ˈmi.mi/, /ˈmɛm/
  • Rhymes: -im, -imi, -ɛm

Noun

meme m (plural (Italianized pronunciation only) memi or meme or (English-based pronunciations only) memes) (Internet)

1. meme (media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations)
   • 2011 December 18, Federica Colonna, “La Lettura”, in Corriere della Sera, page 9:

     I memi digitali sono contenuti virali in grado di monopolizzare l’attenzione degli utenti sul web. Un video, un disegno, una foto diventa meme (termine coniato nel 1976 dal biologo Richard Dawkins ne Il gene egoista per indicare un’entità di informazione replicabile) quando la sua «replicabilità», che dipende dalla capacità di suscitare un’emozione, è massima.

     Digital memes are viral content capable of monopolizing the attention of web users. A video, a drawing, an image can become a meme (a term coined in 1976 by biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, to indicate an entity of replicable information) when its "replicability", which depends on its capacity of arousing an emotion, is highest.

2. meme (specific instance of a meme)

Derived terms

• memare
• memino (diminutive)

Anagrams

• emme

Japanese

Romanization

meme

1. Rōmaji transcription of めめ

Kongo

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Bantu *méémé.

Noun

meme class 5 (singular meme, singular dimeme, plural mameme)

1. sheep

Latin

Etymology

Reduplication of mē.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmeː.meː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛː.me]

Pronoun

mēmē

1. (rare) emphatic form of mē (“me”)

Lingala

Etymology

Borrowed from Bangi meme.

Verb

meme

1. to carry

Luba-Kasai

Pronoun

meme

1. me

Lutuv

Noun

meme

1. breast

Mandarin

Romanization

meme (Zhuyin ˙ㄇㄜ ˙ㄇㄜ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 麼麼 / 么么

Māori

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

meme

1. to murmur
2. to mutter, to grumble

Derived terms

• hāmeme
• komeme
• whakameme

Further reading

• Williams, Herbert William (1917), “meme”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 231
• John C. Moorfield (2011), “meme”, in Te Aka: Māori–English, English–Māori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, →ISBN

Northern Ohlone

Verb

meme

1. (Ramaytush dialect) kill

Pajapan Nahuatl

Noun

meme

1. butterfly

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English meme.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmẽ.mi/, /ˈme.mi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.mɨ/, /ˈme.mɨ/, /ˈmi.mɨ/

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ẽmi, -emi, (Portugal) -ɛmɨ, -emɨ, -imɨ
• Hyphenation: me‧me

Noun

meme m (plural memes)

1. meme (unit of cultural information)
2. (Internet) meme (humorous image, video or other media shared in the Internet)

Further reading

• “meme”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “meme”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English meme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeme/ [ˈme.me]
• Rhymes: -eme
• Syllabification: me‧me

Noun

meme m (plural memes)

1. meme (unit of cultural information)
2. meme (Internet meme)
3. meme (specific instance of an Internet meme)

Further reading

• “meme”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Noun

meme n or c

1. alternative form of mem

   Synonyms: (internet meme, slang) mejmej, (internet meme, slang, humorous) jagjag

   roliga memes

   funny memes

Usage notes

Much more common than mem for internet memes.

Declension

Declension of meme

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	meme	memes
	definite	memet	memets
plural	indefinite	memes, memer	memes, memers
	definite	memen, memesen	memens, memesens

Declension of meme

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	meme	memes
	definite	memen	memens
plural	indefinite	memes, memer	memes, memers
	definite	memen, memesen	memens, memesens

References

• “meme”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• memeng

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈmeme/ [ˈmɛː.mɛ]
• Rhymes: -eme
• Syllabification: me‧me

Noun

meme (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜋᜒ) (childish)

1. act of going to sleep

   Synonym: tulog

Derived terms

• pamemehin

Further reading

• “meme”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2025
• “meme”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018

Tok Pisin

Etymology

Reduplication of English meh (onomatopoeia for the sound a goat makes)

Noun

meme

1. goat

Turkish

Etymology

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish ممه (nipple, breast), a childish term formed like Ancient Greek μᾰ́μμη (mắmmē) and Persian ممه (mame). In Turkic languages compare Azerbaijani məmə, Turkmen mäme, Kazakh мәме (mäme).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈme/
• Hyphenation: me‧me

Noun

meme (definite accusative memeyi, plural memeler)

1. (anatomy) breast

Declension

Declension of meme

singular plural nominative meme memeler definite accusative memeyi memeleri dative memeye memelere locative memede memelerde ablative memeden memelerden genitive memenin memelerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular memem memelerim 2nd singular memen memelerin 3rd singular memesi memeleri 1st plural mememiz memelerimiz 2nd plural memeniz memeleriniz 3rd plural memeleri memeleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular mememi memelerimi 2nd singular memeni memelerini 3rd singular memesini memelerini 1st plural mememizi memelerimizi 2nd plural memenizi memelerinizi 3rd plural memelerini memelerini dative singular plural 1st singular mememe memelerime 2nd singular memene memelerine 3rd singular memesine memelerine 1st plural mememize memelerimize 2nd plural memenize memelerinize 3rd plural memelerine memelerine locative singular plural 1st singular mememde memelerimde 2nd singular memende memelerinde 3rd singular memesinde memelerinde 1st plural mememizde memelerimizde 2nd plural memenizde memelerinizde 3rd plural memelerinde memelerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular mememden memelerimden 2nd singular memenden memelerinden 3rd singular memesinden memelerinden 1st plural mememizden memelerimizden 2nd plural memenizden memelerinizden 3rd plural memelerinden memelerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular mememin memelerimin 2nd singular memenin memelerinin 3rd singular memesinin memelerinin 1st plural mememizin memelerimizin 2nd plural memenizin memelerinizin 3rd plural memelerinin memelerinin

Derived terms

• keçimemesi
• tavşanmemesi

Vietnamese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English meme.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mim˧˧], [mɛ˧˧ mɛ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mim˧˧], [mɛ˧˧ mɛ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [mim˧˧], [mɛ˧˧ mɛ˧˧]
• Phonetic spelling: mim, me me

Noun

meme

1. meme (humorous media)