What it means
میم (mim) is the direct Persian borrowing of the English word “meme,” a term coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene to describe any unit of cultural transmission. On social media, a meme is a humorous image, short video, or text format that spreads rapidly and gets remixed by users. The word entered spoken Persian wholesale from English and is used by Iranians both inside and outside Iran without any native equivalent. A rough colloquial synonym you might hear is محتوای وایرال (mohtavây-e vâyrâl), meaning “viral content,” but میم is far more common in everyday Gen-Z speech.
How to use it
- این میم خیلی باحاله. (In mim kheyli bâhâle.) “This meme is really funny.”
- همه دارن این میم رو میفرستن. (Hame dâran in mim ro mifrestân.) “Everyone is sending this meme around.”
- یه میم درموردش ساختم. (Ye mim dar moredash sâkhtam.) “I made a meme about it.”
- صفحهاش پر از میمهای خندهداره. (Safhe-ash por az mim-hâye khandedâre.) “Their page is full of funny memes.”
Cultural note
Iranian Gen Z on Instagram and Telegram runs a massive meme culture, with accounts dedicated entirely to سیاسی (political), فارسیزبان (Persian-language), and لایفاستایل (lifestyle) memes. The Persian meme scene exploded after 2018 as Telegram channels and Instagram pages with millions of followers began producing localized content mixing Farsi text, Iranian film stills, and international formats. Because فیلتر (internet filtering) is common in Iran, many users reach meme content through VPNs and filtered-platform mirrors, which itself has become a subject of local meme humor.