Meanings
- uncountableData that describes other data, serving as an informative label.
Most websites contain metadata to tell the computer how to lay out the content on the screen.
1 more example
Leon also noted that the government “does not cite a single instance in which analysis of the NSA’s bulk metadata collection actually stopped an imminent attack, or otherwise aided the government in achieving any objective that was time-sensitive in nature.”
2013 December 16, Bill Mears, Evan Perez, “Judge: NSA domestic phone data-mining unconstitutional”, in CNN, archived from the original on 09 Feb 2018 - uncountablecomputingStructured information about a file (date created, creator, software used to create, last modified, file format, file fingerprint, etc).
That photo's metadata suggests it was edited using Photoshop.
1 more example
Undaunted, the digital investigators used forensic software tools to unlock as much information as they could from the laptop. This allowed them to retrieve the names of deleted files, the time they were most recently opened and time they were burned onto the hard drive, providing critical metadata on the cell's attack plotting.
2017 January 24, Paul Cruickshank, “Discarded laptop yields revelations on network behind Brussels, Paris attacks”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2020
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*me
- Proto-Indo-European*meth₂?
- Ancient Greekμετᾰ́ (metắ)
- Ancient Greekμετᾰ- (metă-)
- Englishmeta-
- Proto-Indo-European*deh₃-redup.
- Proto-Indo-European*dédeh₃ti
- Proto-Italic*didō
- Latindō
- Latindatus
- Latindatum
- Englishdata
- Englishmetadata
Translations
Arabic بَيَانَات وَصْفِيَّة
- بَيَانَات وَصْفِيَّة (bayānāt waṣfiyya)data that describes data
Bulgarian метада́нни
- метада́нни (metadánni)data that describes data
Catalan metadades
- metadadesdata that describes data
Chinese Mandarin 元數據 /元数据
- 元數據 /元数据 (yuánshùjù)data that describes data
Dutch metagegevens, metadata
- metagegevensdata that describes data
- metadatadata that describes data
Esperanto meta-dateno
- meta-datenodata that describes data
Finnish metadata, metatieto
- metadatadata that describes data
- metatietodata that describes data
French métadonnées
- métadonnéesdata that describes data
German Metadaten
- Metadatendata that describes data
Greek μεταδεδομένα
- μεταδεδομένα (metadedoména)data that describes data
Hungarian metaadat, leíró adat
- metaadatdata that describes data
- leíró adatdata that describes data
Icelandic lýsigögn
- lýsigögndata that describes data
Indonesian metadata
- metadatadata that describes data
Japanese メタデータ
- メタデータ (metadēta)data that describes data
Korean 메타데이터
- 메타데이터 (metadeiteo)data that describes data
Persian فراداده
- فراداده (farâdâde)data that describes data
Polish metadane
- metadanedata that describes data
Portuguese metadados, metadata
- metadadosdata that describes data
- metadatadata that describes data
Russian метада́нные
- метада́нные (metadánnyje)data that describes data
Spanish metadatos
- metadatosdata that describes data
Swedish metadata
- metadatadata that describes data
Turkish üstveri
- üstveridata that describes data
Ukrainian метада́ні
- метада́ні (metadáni)data that describes data
Vietnamese siêu dữ liệu
- siêu dữ liệudata that describes data
Cite this entry
metadata. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metadata
“metadata.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metadata. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “metadata,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/metadata.
Source: metadata on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.