802.11
termStands for: IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard
The IEEE standard family that defines wireless LAN operation - what almost everyone means by Wi-Fi.
802.11 specifies the physical and MAC layers; the amendment letters that follow it (a, b, g, n, ac, ax, be) mark generations of modulation, channel width and multi-user behaviour. Wi-Fi is the certification brand of the Wi-Fi Alliance rather than the standard itself, which is why marketing names such as Wi-Fi 6 map onto amendments like 802.11ax rather than replacing them. Naming the amendment rather than the brand is usually the faster way to end an argument about what a device actually supports.
Also known as: IEEE 802.11, Wi-Fi standard, wireless LAN standard