Self-referential or about itself; a prefix meaning beyond, after, or transcending the original subject.
From Greek 'meta' meaning 'beyond, after, with.' Originally used in 'metaphysics' - Aristotle's works that came 'after physics.' The modern self-referential meaning emerged in 20th century academic discourse, popularized by computer science and postmodern philosophy to describe recursive or self-aware concepts.
Meta has exploded in digital culture - from metadata (data about data) to meta-gaming (games about games) to Facebook's rebrand to Meta! It's become the go-to prefix for our self-aware, self-documenting digital age where everything references itself in endless loops of meaning.
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