fonts/knowledge/glossary/terms/terminal/content.md

In type design, a terminal refers to the ending of the stroke. The way a type designer treats terminals is a key factor in the overall typeface design, and has significant effects on legibility as well as stylistic expression.

Terminals come in many forms, such as the single-serifs on the top and bottom bar of an uppercase “E,” double-serifs on the middle bar of the “E,” balls on a lowercase “a,” flared serifs (where the serif is wider than the stem), or virtually any shape a stroke ends with—whether serifed or not.