mimesis
/mɪˈmiːsɪs/noun
mimesis is spelled M-I-M-E-S-I-S: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 89,388th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mimesis means “The representation of aspects of the real world, especially human actions, in literature and art” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mimesis is mimeses.
How many letters and syllables are in mimesis?
| Letters | 7: M-I-M-E-S-I-S |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 89,388th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is mimesis?
Mimesis appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 89,388th 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 mimesis?
- /mɪˈmiːsɪs/
- /məˈmiːsɪs/
- /ˌmaɪˈmiːsɪs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-mimesis.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mimesis
- mimeses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mimesis mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The representation of aspects of the real world, especially human actions, in literature and art.
- 2
Mimicry.
- 3
The appearance of symptoms of a disease not actually present.
- 4
The rhetorical pedagogy of imitation.
- 5
The imitation of another's gestures, pronunciation, or utterance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mimesis in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the representation of aspects of the real world, especially human actions:
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 mimesis come from?
From Ancient Greek μῑ́μησις (mī́mēsis), from μιμεῖσθαι (mimeîsthai, “to imitate”), from μῖμος (mîmos, “a mime”). By surface analysis, mime + -esis.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).