Meme | Definition, Meaning, History, & Facts (2024)

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Meme | Definition, Meaning, History, & Facts? ›

meme, unit of cultural information spread by imitation. The term meme (from the Greek mimema, meaning “imitated”) was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins

Coined by the British evolutionist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene (1976), a meme is a unit of culture—such as “tunes, ideas, catch‐phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or building arches.” In humans, memes have supposedly taken over much of the evolutionary burden of the traditional units of ...

1 : an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. 2 : an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media. Examples: "Graffiti have been the elemental memes of political speech ...

Origin of the Word “Meme”

Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist, first used the term meme in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. The word meme was influenced by the word gene and is the shortened version of mimeme. It was derived from the ancient Greek word “mīmēma,” which means “imitated.”

A meme is a concept or idea that spreads virally from person to person. The most popular memes are usually found on the internet and may be images, videos, phrases, or hashtags. They often convey a humorous point of view, cultural reference, or satirical message.

The term meme (from the Greek mimema, meaning “imitated”) was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his work The Selfish Gene. Grumpy Cat. Related Topics: collective behaviour Meme stocks: More than a 2021 phenomenon nonverbal communication imitation.

He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a type of democratic republic. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation.

meme (noun as in cultural item repeatedly transmitted) Strong matches. buzzword trend. Weak matches. concept craze fad fashion idea kick meteor vogue.

In French, the word “même” translates to “same” and the Greek word “mimoúmai” means “to imitate.” In his book, Dawkins said, “We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.” He wanted to use a monosyllable that sounded like “gene.” Dawkins ...

Gifs and memes are very similar. The only difference is that gifs are animated and move, while memes are usually static. Recently though, videos, gifs and images have all been used to make memes.

Who first said meme? ›

Origins. Richard Dawkins coined the word meme in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene.

The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as an attempt to explain how aspects of culture replicate, mutate, and evolve (memetics). Emoticons are among the earliest examples of internet memes, specifically the smiley emoticon ":-)", introduced by Scott Fahlman in 1982.

“Grand-mère” would be a more formal way to say it (similar to grandmother). “Grand-maman” or “grand-ma" would be more relaxed (similar to gramma). “Mamie”, “mémé" or “memère” would be more slang-like and informal (similar to granny, gram, or grams).

The word “meme” comes from the Greek mimema, meaning something that has been “imitated.” According to Britannica, the word was first introduced by Richard Dawkins, a British biologist, in his book The Selfish Gene; his intention was for “meme” to sound similar to "gene.” In his book, Dawkins makes a direct connection ...

A meme is something such as a video, picture, or phrase that a lot of people send to each other on the internet. The image quickly became a meme. Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

The 🤝 emoji represents the same ideas as a real-life handshake—it can be a greeting, a sign of an agreement, or a symbol for a truce. In almost every case, respond to the 🤝 emoji by sending another one back.

Memetic theory, or memetics, is a scientific field related to how units of information evolve and replicate. These units of information, called memes, undergo a process of natural selection comparable to that of genes.

Memes are cultural replicators, analogous to genes. The only purpose of any replicator, whether it is a gene or a meme, is to make copies of itself. Memes cannot self-replicate, but, like the genetic instructions in viruses, they can harness the capacities of other organisms to get themselves replicated.

“Memes” are the units of selection in culture as genes are the units of selection in evolution. When we talk of traits (height, hairiness, colour-blindness, and so on) being passed down through generations, we are also talking about genes being passed down.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or piece of culture that has the capacity to replicate into future generations. It can be thought of as the basic unit of replication for cultural evolution.