Other forms: themes
A theme is the subject that runs through a work. The central theme, a recurring theme, theme and variations.
It is what a work is about rather than what happens in it, which is the distinction between theme and plot. In music a theme is a melody that returns and is developed. A theme park organises everything around one idea. Note that the Greek means something set down.
1nounthemeThe subject that runs through a work.
“Love and loss are the main themes of the novel.”
2nounmelodyA melody that returns and is developed.
“The main theme of the symphony comes back again at the end.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
theme is a subject.
Greek thema means something set down, from tithenai, to place. Thesis and epithet come from the same placing.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰeh₁- — to put, place, do
Ancient Greek
θέμα
Latin
thema
Old French
teme
Middle English
teme
English, today
theme
Built from
From Middle English teme, from Old French teme, tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα, from τίθημι (“to put, place”), reduplicative from Proto-Indo-European dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do”) (whence also English do). a doublet of thema.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA