Those are function pointers. Your parent was referring to the function type. Per ISO/IEC 9899:TC3:

A function type describes a function with specified return type. A function type is characterized by its return type and the number and types of its parameters. A function type is said to be derived from its return type, and if its return type is T , the function type is sometimes called ‘‘function returning T’’. The construction of a function type from a return type is called ‘‘function type derivation’’.