In a relational database, what term describes the relationship types between tables?

The term that describes the relationship types between tables in a relational database is cardinality. Cardinality defines how many instances of one entity relate to instances of another entity. For example, in a one-to-many relationship, one record in a table can be associated with multiple records in another table. This concept is crucial for understanding how data is organized, queried, and how tables interact with each other within a relational database model.

The other terms mentioned do not accurately describe the relationships between tables. Key fields refer to the specific attributes that uniquely identify records within a table, and normalization is the process of organizing data to minimize redundancy and improve data integrity. Table linking is a more general concept that might refer to how tables are connected but does not specifically define the nature of those relationships as cardinality does.