The cursor point in the terminal where you type is called the command line, and so a terminal is sometimes also referred to as a command-line interface (CLI). The name “terminal” comes from the days before desktop computers, when a computer occupied a set of cabinets or even an entire room.

The term "terminal" originates from the Latin word terminalis, which means "pertaining to a boundary or end." In the context of transportation, it was first used in the 19th century to describe the end of a railway line, where the tracks literally terminated and the train could go no further without reversing. As transportation evolved, the word was adopted by the aviation and maritime industries to describe the building at either end of a journey where passengers board and disembark. It signifies the point where one mode of transport ends and another begins—for example, where your car journey ends and your flight begins. In modern engineering, it also refers to a "terminal point" in an electrical circuit. While many modern airports like Heathrow or Hartsfield-Jackson are "hubs" where journeys continue, the name persists as a legacy of the era when these locations were the literal final stop of a mechanical route. It serves as the boundary between the "landside" world of the public and the "airside" world of the traveler.