Coyote time
A few frames of grace in which the player can still jump just after walking off a ledge.
Strict physics says the jump should be denied the instant the foot leaves the ground. But human reflexes aren't frame-perfect, and a jump that was technically a hundredth of a second too late feels like an unfair failure. Coyote time therefore keeps the "may jump" flag set for a short window — typically 3–6 frames — after the character leaves the platform.
The name refers to Wile E. Coyote in Looney Tunes, who hangs in the air for a moment before realising the ground has run out. The technique is a cornerstone of modern platformer design — Celeste (2018) is the usual textbook example — and is almost always paired with input buffering at the other end, so a jump pressed just before landing registers too.