What is a Sprite?

Many video games use sprites. In its most basic sense, a sprite is an image that moves around on the screen. The sprite is drawn onto a surface over the existing background, the composed scene is sent to the screen, then the sprite is redrawn in a new location, and the process repeats. Combine this with repairing the sprite's old location on the background and page flipping and you get the illusion that a sprite is moving around the screen.