An Ethereum account controlled by a private key (as opposed to a contract account), used to send transactions and hold ETH/tokens.
EOAs are the user-controlled accounts that sign and initiate transactions. They have nonces and balances; their actions can call or deploy smart contracts on EVM networks.
A MetaMask wallet address is an EOA; signing a transfer from it changes the account’s nonce and reduces its ETH balance by the amount plus gas.
Contract accounts execute code and are controlled by their logic, not private keys. Account abstraction proposals aim to give EOAs smart features like paymasters and batch execution.
With account abstraction, a user might pay gas in tokens via a paymaster contract, even when using an EOA, improving UX.
All terms and definitions may update as the Cryptionary improves.