4 terms
GNOME is a free Linux desktop environment built on GNOME Shell, Mutter and GTK, known for a minimal, workflow-focused design and Wayland support.
KDE Plasma is a Qt-based Linux desktop environment from the KDE community, known for deep customization, the KWin compositor and a Wayland-first design.
Wayland is the display protocol used by modern Linux desktop environments, in which the compositor itself manages windows, input and screen output.
X11 is the network-transparent windowing protocol behind the X Window System, which has drawn graphical desktops on Unix and Linux since 1987.