meta-

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
meta- /ˈmetə/ (also met- before a vowel or h)

▶combining form

• 1 denoting a change of position or condition: metamorphosis.

• 2 denoting position behind, after, or beyond: metacarpus.

• 3 denoting something of a higher or second-order kind: metalanguage.

• 4 Chemistry denoting substitution at two carbon atoms separated by one other in a benzene ring: metadichlorobenzene. Compare with ortho- and para-1.

– origin from Gk meta ‘with, across, or after’.