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The term "[[matheme]]" is a neologism coined by [[Jacques Lacan]] in the early 1970s.

Formed by derivation from "[[mathematics]]" and by analogy with [[phoneme]] and [[Lévi-Strauss]]'s [[mytheme]],<ref>''Mytheme'' is a term coined by [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] to denote the basic constituents of mythological systems.</ref> the term is an equivalent to "[[algebra|mathematical sign]]". It is not used in conventional [[mathematics]], but is part of [[Lacan]]'s [[algebra]].

These [[algebra|formulae]], which were both created to designate points in the [[graph of desire]], are the [[matheme]] for the [[drive]], ('''$ <> D'''), and the [[matheme]] for [[fantasy]], ('''$ <> ''a''''').

The [[structural]] parallel between the two [[matheme]]s is clear; they are both composed of two [[algebra]]ic [[symbol]]s conjoined by a rhomboid (the [[symbol]] '''<>''', which [[Lacan]] calls the ''poinçon'') and enclosed by brackets.

The rhomboid [[symbolize]]s a relation between the two [[symbol]]s, which includes the relations of "envelopment-development-conjunction-disjunction."<ref>{{E}} p.280</ref>

[[Lacan]] argues that the [[matheme]]s are "not transcendent signifiers; they are the indices of an absolute signification."<ref>{{E}} p. 314</ref>

They are "created to allow a hundred and one different readings, a multiplicity that is admissible as long as the spoken remains caught in their algebra."<ref>{{E}} p. 313</ref>

They are constructed to resist any attempt to reduce them to one univocal [[signification]], and to prevent the reader from an intuitive or [[imaginary]] [[knowledge|understanding]] of [[:category:concepts|psychoanalytic concepts]]: the [[mathemes]] are not to be understood but to be used.