Word of the Day – Mytheme

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.”