meme
A piece of culture that spreads through imitation, especially an online joke, image, phrase, or video that people remix and share.
By Cal Hewitt, Founder at Web Leveling · Researched from public sources ·
What it actually means
Online, a meme is not just any funny post. It is a recognizable idea or format that people repeat, alter, and circulate. The word began as Richard Dawkins's term for cultural transmission, then took on a more specific internet meaning.
See the quick definition in the meme dictionary entry.
Where it came from
British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined meme in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, shortening mimeme, meaning something imitated. His original idea concerned cultural transmission generally, not image macros or social posts. Internet culture later narrowed the everyday meaning to remixable online material.
Commonly credited to Richard Dawkins (1976), well-documented.
Where it's popular
Global internet culture across social networks, forums, group chats, and short-form video platforms.
The word began in academic writing but now has a widespread digital-culture meaning.
How it caught on
- 1976Richard Dawkins coins meme in The Selfish Gene for a unit of cultural transmission or imitation.
- 1990sOnline communities increasingly circulate copied jokes, images, and catchphrases.
- 2013Dawkins distinguishes deliberately remixed internet memes from his original evolutionary concept in a Wired interview.
How to use it
“That screenshot became a meme overnight.”
A format spreads widely and gets reused.
“People keep remaking the meme with their own captions.”
Describing how a meme format changes through imitation.
Common mix-ups
A meme is not limited to a single image, and not every viral post becomes a meme. A meme is typically recognizable and repeatable enough for others to imitate or remix.
Do you actually know it?
Do you know the meme?
0/31. Who coined meme?
2. What helps make an online post a meme?
3. What was the original meme concept about?
Related slang
Questions people ask
Who coined the word meme?
Richard Dawkins coined it in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene.
What did meme originally mean?
It meant a unit of cultural transmission or imitation, modeled in name on gene.
What is an internet meme?
It is a cultural idea or format that spreads online through copying, remixing, and sharing.
Meme was designed to sound like gene, because Dawkins was describing how cultural ideas can spread by imitation.