![]() "Meaning" here is still not a verb, but can be understood as a meaning that you don't understand. Here, we're getting closer to your intention for the situation. If we use an article, we can clarify that the meaning in question is not understood. This is obviously a very strange thing to say in almost any context, as if you have "meaning", you generally don't need to ask what it is. With the zero article, we are talking about the abstract concept of a meaning, implying that you already comprehend it. We are actually referring to "this meaning" as a thing, perhaps a written definition on a piece of paper for instance, or just the idea of a meaning in our heads. ![]() Instead, we parse it as "What is (this meaning)?" where "this meaning" is a single noun phrase. In American English, "is" is generally followed by an adjective or a noun phrase, almost never a verb. Your intention is that you want to parse it as "What is this" and then add "meaning" as a separate verb clause, however, in American English you cannot do this. Furthermore, the circumstances you could use it in are extremely rare, to the point where it may as well be considered plainly wrong. On the other hand, while this is technically valid and grammatical English (AmE), it's meaning is actually very different than your intention. There are other things you could say, of course, but "What does this mean?" is perfectly fine for the situation. This is correct for the context you described.
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