Mise en abyme is the formal technique in art by which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, the sequence appearing to recur infinitely. The term is originally French. The term originated in heraldry, referring to a coat of arms in which one quadrant contains a smaller copy of the entire coat of arms.

In literary criticism, mise en abyme refers to a particular type of frame story, in which the main narrative can be used to sum up or encapsulate some aspect of the framing story.