The word meme is a neologism coined by
Richard Dawkins, in
The Selfish Gene, published in 1976. A meme is an idea or behavior that is spread within a culture through imitation. It is a concept that comes from the analogy of the behavior and mutation of genes in evolutionary biology.
The origin of the word meme comes from the Greek word
mimeme, which means "imitated thing" and was abbreviated to meme, to model it on the word gene, from which Dawkins based his analogy.
At the end of the 20th century and throughout the 21st century, the internet meme emerged and then expanded through social media platforms. An internet meme is a concept that is spread from person to person through the internet. It has come to be intended usually as a captioned image with humoristic undertones.
The correct pronunciation of meme in English is
meem.
PronounceItRight.com
