What part of "MIRROR"-less is so hard to understand ???
Is the word "lens" in that at all ???
This is simple ... MirrorLess is "MIRROR"-less.
Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILC) vs FIXED-lens is a separate issue, (just as different sensor-sizes is also a separate issue).
It's not hard to understand at all. Richard Butler made the editorial position of this website clear in a post above when he wrote, "When we use the term 'Mirrorless' we're using it as a more convenient contraction of Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (MILC)." He also said the term was introduced at the time the micro four thirds system was announced, which was about 2008, so that has been its meaning here for about 10 years.
When I read the word mirrorless in an article or post here at DPReview, my assumption is that it refers to a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. What introduces confusion is when people apply the term mirrorless to cameras that do not use interchangeable lenses. There are other category names to use. Canon, for example, refers to their fixed-lens cameras with 1" or larger sensors as "large sensor compacts," and they, too, define mirrorless as having interchangeable lenses. Looking at their product line-up, Panasonic also appears to reserve the word mirrorless for cameras with interchangeable lenses.
