Meta

<philosophy> /me't*/ or /may't*/ or (Commonwealth) /mee't*/ A prefix meaning one level of description higher.

If X is some concept then meta-X is data about, or processes operating on, X.

For example, a metasyntax is syntax for specifying syntax, metalanguage is a language used to discuss language, meta-data is data about data, and meta-reasoning is reasoning about reasoning.

This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humour turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels.

[Jargon File]

< Previous Terms	Terms Containing meta	Next Terms >
Message Transfer Agent Messaging Application Programming Interface Messaging Applications Programming Interface mess-dos META	6.001 A# aggregator alt bit Backus-Naur Form	META 5 meta bit MetaCard Meta-CASE tool Metaclass