I guess what the OP is arguing is that "unit test" doesn't mean you "test a unit" but rather that "each test is a unit" - i.e. each test executes independently

I guess what the OP is arguing is that "unit test" doesn't mean you "test a unit" but rather that "each test is a unit" - i.e. each test executes independently from all other tests. I just find that good testing practice tbh but it's true that there are loads of test suites out there that require tests to be run in a particular sequence. I haven't seen one of those in a while but they used to be quite common.