Mytheme (noun)
mi-th-eem
In structuralist anthropology and literary criticism: each of a set of fundamental generic units of narrative structure (typically involving a relationship between a character, an event, and a theme) from which myths are thought to be constructed.
1960s. From French mythème from mythe + -ème.
Example sentences
“The mytheme is essentially the kernel of the myth, and shows where it began.”