terminaux

Terminaux is the plural form of terminal in French. The term is used in various technical and everyday contexts to denote an endpoint, interface, or facility that completes a process, handles input or traffic, or connects systems and locations.

In computing, a terminal originally referred to a hardware device that provides a user interface to a computer, often a teletype or video terminal connected to a mainframe. Today, most terminals are software-based: terminal emulators such as xterm, GNOME Terminal, or iTerm2 run on general-purpose machines and offer access to shells, command lines, and remote sessions via protocols like SSH and Telnet. They are often enhanced with multiplexers (tmux, screen), color schemes, and Unicode support.

In transport and logistics, terminaux denotes passenger and cargo facilities at airports, seaports, rail hubs, or intermodal yards. They organize check-in, boarding, cargo handling, and transfers, and are designed to optimize throughput and connectivity between different modes of transport.

In linguistics and mathematics, the term describes endpoints: terminal points in sequences, terminal nodes in graphs, or the final elements of a structure. In chemistry, terminal groups refer to atoms or groups located at the ends of a molecule.

Etymology: from Latin terminus, end or boundary. The French plural terminaux is widely used in technical fields and is often understood in international contexts where the English term terminal is common.