Domestic Sewing Machine
A home sewing machine built for general garment construction, as opposed to an industrial machine built for speed and a single task.
A domestic machine is the generalist of the sewing world — one machine, straight stitch and zigzag and usually a set of decorative and buttonhole stitches besides, running at a modest, controllable speed. That's the opposite of an industrial machine, which is typically built to do exactly one stitch, extremely fast, all day, and is a very different tool to learn on.
For garment sewing, a domestic machine is genuinely the right choice for almost everyone starting out — you need the versatility more than the speed, and the slower top speed is honestly a feature while you're still learning to guide fabric evenly. I look for three things above the basic straight/zigzag: a reliable buttonhole function, adjustable stitch length and width, and a free arm for getting into sleeves and pant legs. Fancier isn't necessarily better; some of the best plain-stitching machines I've used were mechanical, not computerized.
Maintenance matters more than most beginners expect. Lint builds up in the bobbin case faster than seems possible, and a machine that starts skipping stitches or jamming thread is very often just due for a clean and a fresh needle rather than anything actually broken.