Word.ws English Dictionary

meta-

UK/mɪˈta//məˈtæ/

meta- prefix: behind.

Prefix (1)

meta-

  1. Behind.
  2. Later or subsequent.
  3. (obsolete) Situated between two segments.
  4. Having fewer molecules of water than the ortho- equivalent.
  5. in isomeric benzene derivatives, having the two substituents in alternate (1,3) positions; contrasted with ortho- and para-.
  6. Relating to metabolism.

Prefix (2)

UK/ˈmɛt.ə/US/ˈmɛt.ə/

meta-

  1. Transcending, encompassing.
  2. Pertaining to a level above or beyond; reflexive or recursive; about itself or about other things of the same type. For example, metadata is data that describes data, metalanguage is language that describes language, etc.
  3. Having analogies with metaphysics.

Prefix (3)

UK/ˈmɛt.ə/US/ˈmɛt.ə/

meta-

  1. Modified by metamorphosis; analogies and derivatives of metamorphism.

Prefix (4)

UK/ˈmɛt.ə/US/ˈmɛt.ə/

meta-

  1. Consequent on.

meta- meaning in Tamil

meta- in Tamil

மேலமை

Forms of meta-

alternative formmet-

Origin of meta-

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μετα- (meta-), from μετά (metá), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀕𐀲 (me-ta), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *meth₂ (“in the middle”).

Back-formation from metaphysics.

Back-formation from metamorphism.

Questions about meta-

What does meta- mean?
Meta- means behind.
What is meta- in Tamil?
Meta- in Tamil is மேலமை. See Meta- meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is meta-?
Meta- is a prefix.
How do you pronounce meta-?
Meta- is pronounced /mɪˈta/ (UK).

Words near meta- in the dictionary

  1. meta keys
  2. meta model
  3. meta models
  4. meta tag
  5. meta tags
  6. meta-
  7. meta-adenohypophysis
  8. meta-analyses
  9. meta-analysis
  10. meta-analytic
  11. meta-andesite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: meta- (page history and authors); meta- (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-MahmoudHashemi-meta-.wav.

Cite this entry: “meta-.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/meta-. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.