Kerning vs Tracking – terminology question

In font design it is pretty much clear what is kerning and what is letter-spacing. But which word is more correct to use when you’re talking about an abstract pair of letters (in custom lettering, logo design etc.)? Let’s say, we only have the word “hi” as a vector shape in Illustrator. Would you call the space between those letters kerning or letter-spacing? I would prefer the term letter-spacing, since if it was a font, it wouldn’t be a kerning pair. But some people say it’s kerning, because it’s only a pair of letters.
It is probably a stupid question, I know.