A logical volume:

A logical volume is designed to be visible and usable by the operating system, appearing as a standard block device.

Allocating physical capacity as data is written (thin provisioning) is a feature that *can* be used with logical volumes, but it is not a defining characteristic of all logical volumes.

A logical volume can span multiple physical disks or partitions (Physical Volumes) and is not limited to a single virtual disk to physical disk mapping.

In a Logical Volume Management (LVM) system, a logical volume (LV) is constructed from logical extents allocated from a volume group, which are abstract units representing portions of physical storage. These logical extents collectively form the 'logical disk' presented by the LV to the operating system.