Mythologem
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A basic core element, motif or theme of a myth.
"[W]e have long been in possession of mythologems which express the dynamics of certain subliminal processes, though these processes were only given names in very recent times."
Example
More examples"[W]e have long been in possession of mythologems which express the dynamics of certain subliminal processes, though these processes were only given names in very recent times."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μυθολογέω (muthologéō, “to tell mythical tales”), from μυθολόγος (muthológos, “myth-teller”), from μῦθος (mûthos, “mythical narrative”) + -λόγος (-lógos). The -em could be interpreted as an analogue of -eme.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.