tty

/TTY/ , /titee/ , n. The latter pronunciation was primarily ITS, but some
Unix people say it this way as well; this pronunciation is not considered to
have sexual undertones. 1. A terminal of the teletype variety, characterized
by a noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor print
quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTYs themselves). See also bit-paired
keyboard. 2. [especially Unix] Any terminal at all; sometimes used to refer
to the particular terminal controlling a given job. 3. [Unix] Any serial
port, whether or not the device connected to it is a terminal; so called
because under Unix such devices have names of the form tty*. Ambiguity
between senses 2 and 3 is common but seldom bothersome.

