Etymology

metaethics

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Today it means: The study of the nature and meaning of moral judgments, and the foundations and the possibility of ethical reasoning as such. Full definition →

English ethics ← Ancient Greek μετᾰ- (metă-) ← Proto-Indo-European *meth₂?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*me
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meth₂?
  3. Ancient Greekμετᾰ́ (metắ)
  4. Ancient Greekμετᾰ- (metă-)
  5. Englishmeta-
  6. Englishethics
  7. English todaymetaethics

From meta- + ethics. First attested in the 1930s.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.