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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

mytheme en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /mɪθiːm/

Etymology

From myth + -eme, popularized by Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Meanings

  1. The essential kernel of a myth; a myth or mythic element that get passed along.
    • By the time the Cypria was composed, Greek poets were certainly familiar with the mytheme of a flood as a divine punishment. 2025 December 12, Tom Hercules Davies, “Horses, Wheels, Languages: Greek, Mesopotamian and Indic Epic on the Eurasian Steppe”, in The Classical Quarterly, volume 75, number 1, page 17:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
mythemes Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

mythemic

Translations (1)

fr mythème (kernel of a myth)

wikipedia: Claude Lévi-Strauss