Metadata
Etymology
From Greek "meta," here meaning about or beyond, plus data. The term was coined in the 1960s and is credited to Philip Bagley for structured descriptions of records. It became publicly charged when surveillance debates revealed that metadata alone — who called whom, when, and from where — can expose a life as thoroughly as the message content.
noun · /MET-uh-day-tuh/
Data about data — the information describing a file rather than its actual contents.
What it names
The quietly revealing layer around everything digital: who, when, where, and how, even when the "what" stays private.
Example
The photo’s metadata quietly recorded the exact GPS location where it was taken.
Related idea
Metadata is distinct from the content it describes: a message body might be encrypted, yet its metadata — sender, recipient, timestamp — often travels in the clear and reveals the pattern of a life.