Terminal usually describes something at the very end or final stage of a process.

In medicine, a terminal illness is one that cannot be cured and will eventually end a person's life. Doctors use this word when they know that treatments can no longer stop a disease from progressing.

The word also refers to the endpoints of transportation systems. An airport terminal is the building where passengers begin and end their journeys, checking in for flights or collecting luggage. Bus terminals and train terminals work the same way: they're the stations where routes start and finish.

In older computers, a terminal was a device with just a keyboard and screen, connected to a main computer. You could type commands, but the actual computing happened elsewhere. Today, programmers still use “terminal” programs to type text commands directly to their computers instead of clicking icons.

In electronics, a terminal is the point where you connect a wire, like the metal posts on a battery marked positive and negative. Electricity flows into or out of these connection points.