Etymograph

English

metacharacter

Metacharacter comes from Old French caractere ‘mark’, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ ‘instrument used for engraving’, and ultimately from χαράσσω.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχαράσσω1kharássō‘to engrave, carve, write, draw, stamp’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχαρακτήρ1kharaktḗr‘instrument used for engraving’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcharactēr1‘characteristic, mark, character, style’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400caractere1‘mark’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500caracter1
  6. English1500–presentcharacter1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2005metacharacter1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English metacharacter
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Andrew Watt, Beginning Regular Expressions: “This chapter moves on to look at several regular…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχαράσσωWiktionary, English metacharacterkharássō‘to engrave, carve, write, draw, stamp’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEχαρακτήρWiktionary, English metacharacterkharaktḗr‘instrument used for engraving’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcharactērWiktionary, English metacharacter‘characteristic, mark, character, style’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400caractereWiktionary, English metacharacter‘mark’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500caracterWiktionary, English metacharacter
  6. English1500–presentcharacterWiktionary, English metacharacter
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2005metacharacterWiktionary, English metacharacter. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Andrew Watt, Beginning Regular Expressions: “This chapter moves on to look at several regular…”

A compound of meta- + character

Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek form

Ancient Greek μετά ‘in the midst of, among, between, with’

English meta-

Ancient Greek χαράσσω ‘to engrave’

Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ ‘type’

Latin charactēr ‘branding iron’

Old French caractere ‘mark’

Middle English caracter

English character

Linked words

through Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ ‘instrument used for engraving’

characteristic, gash, characterize, 22 more

Today it means

noun A character used to signify something other than its literal form, such as the asterisk when used as a wildcard.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “metacharacter”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek χαράσσω / metacharacter

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