Real return
Return after inflation.
Your real return is what your investment earned after accounting for inflation. It tells you how much more you can actually buy.
Nominal vs real
The returns you usually see are nominal: they ignore rising prices. If your portfolio grew 7% but prices rose 3%, your buying power grew only about 3.9%.
Cash in a low-interest account can have a negative real return, losing buying power every year even though the balance never drops.