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, metadata 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]

Last updated: 1999-04-06

Nearby terms:

Messaging Applications Programming Interface ♦ mess-dos ♦ META ♦ meta ♦ META 5 ♦ meta bit ♦ MetaCard

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