“In what year did Richard Dawkins first coin the term ‘meme’?” — He coined the term in 1976. Dawkins introduced it in his book The Selfish Gene to describe a unit of cultural transmission that spreads by imitation.
Dawkins wanted a short word that could be compared with “gene,” the biological unit of heredity. He adapted the idea from the Greek root associated with imitation, shortening “mimeme” to “meme.” In The Selfish Gene, he used the concept to discuss how cultural elements can replicate, vary, and compete for attention.
His examples included melodies, catchphrases, fashions, and techniques such as building arches. In this original sense, a meme was not specifically a funny picture or online joke; it was any cultural idea or behavior capable of being copied and transmitted.
The internet later gave the word a narrower everyday meaning. Online memes often combine an image, phrase, video, or format with user modifications and rapid sharing. Dawkins himself distinguished internet memes from his original concept, noting that online versions are deliberately altered by human creativity. The year 1976 is therefore tied to the word’s introduction, not to the later rise of internet memes.