Feta is made by allowing milk to curdle, pressing the curds into a mould, and then slicing the resulting mass into slabs that are soaked in brine. One of the stages in this process—the slicing—gives feta its name, deriving as it does from the Modern Greek tyri pheta, meaning cheese slice. The pheta part of this Greek name, which was the part adopted by English as feta in the 1930s, was derived by the Greeks from the Italian word feta, meaning slice. The Italians themselves employed this word when they gave fettuccine—a pasta cut into long, narrow strips—its name.
The cheese you are describing is called “feta”. It is a soft, crumbly white cheese that is made primarily from goat’s milk, although sometimes sheep’s milk is added as well. When sheep’s milk is used, the resulting cheese is usually less salty. Feta cheese is very popular in Greece, where it is commonly used as a table cheese and in various dishes in Greek cuisine.