Core memory

Etymology

Popularized by Pixar’s Inside Out (2015), where glowing “core memories” literally build the islands of a child’s personality. The coinage escaped into everyday speech on TikTok around 2021, as in “this is a core memory.”

noun · /KOR MEM-uh-ree/
A formative, defining memory treated as foundational to who you are.
What it names
It names the handful of moments held to be load-bearing for a personality — the experiences you point to as having made you. Online it’s often used lightly, tagging a small vivid moment as if it were structural.
Example
The whole kitchen smelling of my grandmother’s bread is a core memory for me.
Related idea
A stronger claim than an ordinary memory: a core memory is said to be structural — one of the few that define you rather than something you merely recall.