Timing and spacing
Also said as Easing, Slow in, slow out, Ease in and out
Timing is how many frames a move takes. Spacing is how far it travels between each of those frames. Same timing with different spacing gives very different motion.
Weight and mood live here. Even spacing looks mechanical, and clustered frames at each end look natural. Most "it looks robotic" notes are a spacing problem.
Say it
“Keep the door at 12 frames, but change the spacing: ease out hard, so 70% of the move happens in the first 3 frames, then let it settle into the frame.”
Where you’ve seen it
Richard Williams's The Animator's Survival Kit (2001) teaches this with charts of ball positions on a line, and animators still sketch those ticks when they plan a move.
Not to be confused with frame rate
Frame rate is how many frames the whole game shows each second. Timing is how many of them this one movement takes.