Method and terminal for responding to gesture

The embodiment of the invention discloses a method and terminal for responding to a gesture. The method includes the steps that an air gesture, not touching a touch screen, of a user is received through a terminal; the terminal recognizes the gesture, and the recognized gesture is matched with gestures preset in a gesture matching list; corresponding relations between the gestures and a control function under different application interfaces are preset in the gesture matching list; if matching is achieved, the terminal triggers a remote control function, corresponding to the gesture, for an external device excepting the terminal, and the external device excepting the terminal is controlled remotely. The terminal can recognize and respond to the gesture of the user, and remote control operation performed on the external device excepting the terminal is triggered through the gesture of the user.