Dame

The term dame in Go primarily refers to an empty point adjacent to a stone or a group of stones, acting as a basic liberty. These points are crucial in determining the life and death of groups, as capturing a group requires filling in all of its remaining liberties. This main meaning of dame is closely related to concepts such as shortage of liberties (damezumari) and capturing techniques.  

Dame also refers to neutral points—empty intersections on the board that don’t belong to either player’s territory. These points typically have no direct impact on life-and-death situations and are often of little or no interest to either player.