mneme

[ nee-mee ]

noun

1. Psychology. the retentive basis or basic principle in a mind or organism accounting for memory.
2. (initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. the Muse of memory, one of the original three Muses.

Other Words From

• mne·mic [nee, -mik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mneme¹

1910–15; < Greek mnḗmē memory; mnemonic

Example Sentences

The phenomena of the hereditary mneme show clearly how ontogeny is the result of engraphia combined with selection, in the series of ancestors.

From Project Gutenberg

The sexual repulsion which normally exists between animals of different species rests on a selective basis, the hereditary mneme of their reciprocal germs being unable to place itself in homophony, and their blood also having a mutual toxic action.

From Project Gutenberg

In his book on "The Mneme," Semon explains the infecundity of hybrids in a very plausible manner, by the disorder that a too large quantity of dissimilar hereditary engrams causes in the hereditary mneme of two conjugated cells.

From Project Gutenberg

The Mneme.—The secret of heredity lies in the phenomena which have been just described.

From Project Gutenberg

The sum of the hereditary and individual engrams thus produced in a living organism is designated by the term mneme.

From Project Gutenberg