The aim of this chapter is to present the main elements necessary to understand the use of the term "motif" in different disciplines, ranging from 19th century folkloristics, narratology, bioinformatics, automatic text processing and linguistics. Although each discipline has its own specificities, it is possible to highlight common concerns, such as the definition of the motif, its nature (is a motif a thematic or a linguistic unit?), its identification. This article argues for collaboration between disciplines that are scientifically very distant, but which all face the problem of motif.