meme [L20th] Meme, a system of culture or behaviour passed on by non-genetic means but in a similar way, especially by imitation, is a term coined by Richard Dawkins for his book The Selfish Gene (1976). It was formed to be similar to ‘gene’ by shortening mimeme from ancient Greek mimema ‘that which is imitated’, from mimeisthai ‘to imitate’, also the source of mime [E17th] (see pantomime).