Kibble
Dry pet food shaped by extrusion — dough cooked under pressure, forced through a die, cut, dried and sprayed with fat and flavour.
The word describes a manufacturing process, not a quality tier. Ingredients are ground, mixed into a dough, cooked briefly at high temperature and pressure, then pushed through a shaped die and cut. The pieces puff as they leave the pressure, dry into something shelf-stable, and are coated afterwards with fats and palatants that would not survive the cooking.
That process explains most of kibble's trade-offs. It is cheap, storable and easy to measure, which is genuinely useful. It is also low in moisture, which matters more for cats than for dogs, and the heat means some nutrients are added back after cooking rather than surviving it.