Meta vs. Alphabet — What's the Difference?

Meta (from the Greek μετα-, meta-, meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning more comprehensive or transcending.

An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written symbols or graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllable, for instance, and logographic systems use characters to represent words, morphemes, or other semantic units.The first fully phonemic script, the Proto-Canaanite script, later known as the Phoenician alphabet, is considered to be the first alphabet, and is the ancestor of most modern alphabets, including Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and possibly Brahmic.

Making or showing awareness of reference to oneself or to the activity that is taking place, especially in an ironic or comic way.

The letters of a language, arranged in the order fixed by custom.

(informal) Self-referential; structured analogously (structured by relationships), but at a higher level.

A system of characters or symbols representing sounds or things.

(video games) Prominent in the metagame; effective and frequently used in competitive gameplay.

A set of basic parts or elements

Boundary marker.

The set of letters used when writing in a language.

(historical) Either of the conical columns at each end of an Ancient Roman circus.

A writing system in which letters represent phonemes. Contrast e.g. logography, a writing system in which each character represents a word, and syllabary, in which each character represents a syllable.

(video games) Metagame; the most effective tactics and strategies used in a competitive video game in a given period of time.

A writing system in which there are letters for the consonant and vowel phonemes. Contrast e.g. abjad.

An informal but widely adopted practice in a given field; a de facto standard.

(computer science) A typically finite set of distinguishable symbols.

(informal) Metoidioplasty.

An individual letter of an alphabet; an alphabetic character.

The simplest rudiments; elements.

An agent of the FBI, the CIA, or another such government agency.

(rare) To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.

The letters of a language arranged in the customary order; the series of letters or signs which form the elements of written language.

The simplest rudiments; elements.

To designate by the letters of the alphabet; to arrange alphabetically.

A character set that includes letters and is used to write a language

The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural);