I don’t understand how you conclude that there is no such thing. There is a field in the byte code as well as in the Kotlin language itself. And in both those levels it is conceptually not the same thing as the property.
Furthermore in Kotlin there are 2 kinds of properties, those that are backed by a field, and those that are computed on demand. Understanding the difference is very important, and the first step in understanding them is understanding the backing field.
Would it be better to call the backing field something different? Maybe. Then again, you say that the wording is not the issue.