Etymology

metamaterial

M3E1T1A1M3A1T1E1R1I1A1L1

Today it means: Any material engineered to have a property that is rarely observed in naturally occurring materials; especially Full definition →

English material ← 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. Englishmaterial
  7. English todaymetamaterial

From meta- + material.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.