What is Red giant?

A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass ] in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around 5,000 K or lower. The appearance of the red giant is from yellow-white to reddish-orange, including the spectral types K and M, sometimes G, but also class S stars and most carbon stars.

Red giants vary in the way by which they generate energy:

Many of the well-known bright stars are red giants because they are luminous and moderately common. The K0 RGB star Arcturus is 36 light-years away, and Gamma Crucis is the nearest M-class giant at 88 light-years' distance.