meme
/miːm/noun, verb
meme is spelled M-E-M-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, meme means “Any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of meme is memes.
How many letters and syllables are in meme?
| Letters | 4: M-E-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.1 times per million words; the 8,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is meme?
Meme appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce meme?
- /miːm/
Meme has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-meme.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with meme?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as meme.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: meem.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of meme
- memes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- memeing participle, present
- meming participle, present
- memed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does meme mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
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.
- 2
Media, usually humorous, which is copied and circulated online with slight adaptations, such as basic pictures, video templates, etc.
He posted a meme that went viral within a few hours on social media.
- 3
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.
- 4
derogatorySomething which is deceptive; a trick, a ruse.
It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.
- 5
derogatorySomething not to be taken seriously; a joke.
It's a meme degree, you know. Good luck getting a job from that.
- 6
A work produced and shared in response to a prompt or suggestion within an online group.
kink meme
- 7
informalGranny; nana.
verb
- 1
To create and use humorous memes.
- 2
To turn into a meme; to use a meme, especially to achieve a goal in real life.
- 3
To joke around.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Meme in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does meme come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).