noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈmɛt.əˌdeɪ.tə/
Canada, General-American:/ˈmɛt.əˌdeɪ.tə/
Canada, General-American:[ˈmɛɾ.əˌdeɪ.ɾə]
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Australian:/ˈmet.əˌdæɪ.tə/
Australian:[ˈmet.əˌdæɪ.ɾə]
1
noun
Meaning 1
Data that describes other data, serving as an informative label.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
Most websites contain metadata to tell the computer how to lay out the content on the screen.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Structured information about a file (date created, creator, software used to create, last modified, file format, file fingerprint, etc).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
That photo's metadata suggests it was edited using Photoshop.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
data about data
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
a library catalog is metadata because it describes publications
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: data, information
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *me Proto-Indo-European *meth2? Ancient Greek μετᾰ́ (metắ) Ancient Greek μετᾰ- (metă-)lbor. English meta- Proto-Indo-European *deh3-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *dédeh3ti Proto-Italic *didō Latin dō Latin datusnom. Latin datumbor. English data English metadata From meta- + data.
Across languages
Translations
31 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
بَيَانَات وَصْفِيَّة
(bayānāt waṣfiyya)
— data that describes data
Bulgarian:
метада́нни
(metadánni)
— data that describes data
Catalan:
metadades
— data that describes data
Chinese Mandarin:
元數據 /元数据
(yuánshùjù)
— data that describes data
Dutch:
metagegevens
— data that describes data
Dutch:
metadata
— data that describes data
Esperanto:
meta-dateno
— data that describes data
Finnish:
metadata
— data that describes data
Finnish:
metatieto
— data that describes data
French:
métadonnées
— data that describes data
Galician:
metadatos
— data that describes data
Georgian:
მეტა-მონაცემები
(meṭa-monacemebi)
— data that describes data
Georgian:
მეტამონაცემები
(meṭamonacemebi)
— data that describes data
German:
Metadaten
— data that describes data
Greek:
μεταδεδομένα
(metadedoména)
— data that describes data
Hungarian:
metaadat
— data that describes data
Hungarian:
leíró adat
— data that describes data
Icelandic:
lýsigögn
— data that describes data
Indonesian:
metadata
— data that describes data
Japanese:
メタデータ
(metadēta)
— data that describes data
Korean:
메타데이터
(metadeiteo)
— data that describes data
Persian:
فراداده
(farâdâde)
— data that describes data
Polish:
metadane
— data that describes data
Portuguese:
metadados
— data that describes data
Portuguese:
metadata
— data that describes data
Russian:
метада́нные
(metadánnyje)
— data that describes data
Spanish:
metadatos
— data that describes data
Swedish:
metadata
— data that describes data
Turkish:
üstveri
— data that describes data
Ukrainian:
метада́ні
(metadáni)
— data that describes data
Vietnamese:
siêu dữ liệu
— data that describes data
