Lexicon
Alpha - The first letter of the Greek alphabet, used to designate the highest position in a social group.
Alpha Drive - The drive (or lack of) to be in a certain position in a social grouping.
Alt.fan.dragons (AFD) - A Usenet group which contained some of the first discussion on spiritual draconity.
Alfandria - Nickname for Alt.fan.dragons
Alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW) - A Usenet group commonly regarded to be the birthplace of modern (online)
therianthropy, founded in 1992.
Alter - A psychological term for a second personality normally used in discussing DID.
Animality - The part of human's nature which is in common with other animals.
Animal-person - A label used to describe therianthropy when the word itself is disapproved of or invalid in some way.
AP - Astral projection, separating yourself from your body and traversing the astral plane.
Autovampirism - A vampire term for the drinking of one's own blood.
Awakening - The moment when a person realises their therianthropic nature. Pretty debatable on what point this
actually refers to.
Awere - Combination of aware and were. When a person first comes to understand they are an animal in heart/mind/soul.
Black Veil - The 'black veil' is slang for the separation between your social/public life and therianthropic/otherkin communities. Some are completely open, whilst others the opposite. Breaking someone's 'black veil' is considered taboo. Stems from the vampiric community.
Blend-a-kin - Insulting term for polytherians or polykin.
Contherian - A therian who does not experience shifts, but instead experiences a permanent combination of their human side and their theriotype. They are not '50:50' or half and half, they simply experience therianthropy on a non-binary level. There is no distinction between human and animal, rather just a whole. See here for more.
Constellation - A word for a group of therians, sometimes specifically nomadic.
Cladotherianthropy - An individual who's theriotype is not specific and may refer to a whole species, or clade.
Cyberpack - An online therian community that label themselves as such.
Daemien - A person who pratices the philosophical practice of visualizing their inner thoughts as an animal or being, and communicating with them in an internal conversation.
Daemon - A personified version of the second half of a person's mental dialogue.
Dai'ari - A race of the Elvish Elenari otherkin, according to shared memories of those who consider themselves Elenari otherkin.
Despertando (Portugese) - A person who is currently awakening or discovering the therian community.
Despertar (Portugese) - Awakening
Draconic - A person who considers themselves to be a dragon. The distinction between draconics and dragon therians/theriomythicsis a matter of personal choice.
Draconity - The state or condition of being a dragon or like a dragon.
Draestari - A race of the Elvish Elenari otherkin, according to shared memories of those who consider themselves Elenari otherkin.
Drakkonist (Ukranian -Драконність) - The Ukranian word for Draconity.
Elenari - A group of Elvish otherkin with shared memories and language. Includes sub-races and their own philosophies.
Empathy - Taking on another's emotions.
Fruiting Day - Used on alt.fan.dragons as the anniversary of a significant posters first post.
Furry - A person who identifies with non-human animals as a matter of choice, entertainment or aesthetic expression.
Gather - A meetup in the Otherkin community.
Glamour Bomb - When Fae or Otherkin individuals leave signs around about their identity, such as leaving notes inside fantasy books which read 'your wings are real'.
Green Wolf/Lupa - The author of A Field Guide to Otherkin, who used to identify as a therian.
Greymuzzle - An experienced or well known therian. Occasionally used to refer to people who were specifically on AHWW in the '90s.
Greggil - Dragon slang for a human.
Howl - A therian gathering (also called a Hiss, Yowl, Meow or Meet depending on the theriotypes present). Howls tend to take the form of camp outs, cabin weekends, or house parties. They have been held in Australia, Canada, Russia, Sweden, the UK and the US, varying between four and over fifty attendees.
Kin - Abbreviation of Otherkin.
Kinfeels (unique to Tumblr) - The state of being emotionally moved in relation to one's identity.
'List - Short for Werelist, a large therian site.
Lurker - A member of a forum or site who does not post, but is active.
Mate - A mate is the partner of a therian or a member of the furry community, usage varies.
Mainstreamer - Negative slang for a non-therian.
Monkeyboy - Negative slang for a human, although occasionally teasing.
Metalimb (unique to Tumblr) - An alternative to phantom limb because of the possibility of this causing confusion or disagreement compared with amputee's phantom limbs.
Misanthropy - An intense dislike of humans/humankind.
M-Flare - Generally interchangeable with a mental shift, occasionally used to indicated an involuntary shift.
MILD - Meditation Induced Lucid Dream.
Mudunca (Portuguese) - Portuguese for shift.
Nomad/Nomadic - A person or a group of people with no permanent home, instead traveling from place to place.
Normal Folk (unique to Silver Elves) - Non-otherkin.
Otaku - Sometimes used to describe a person who identifies with a character from Japanese fiction.
Otherkin - Someone who identifies as non-human.
Otherlimb (unique to tumblr) - A phantom limb experienced by an otherkin.
Pack - Technically, a pack is a group of animals that hunt together. However it is often used to refer to groups of therians that live together as a family unit. Online packs are generally called cyberpacks. Packs are normally small, tight-knit groups, but are also occasionally used to refer to loose groups of therian friends in a specific locality.
Polytherian - A therian with more than one theriotype.
Pokekin - A derogatory term for a member of the therian community who 'collects' theriotypes, labeling every dream and cameo shift as a new theriotype.
Persona - See Alter
Peripheral - A member of a cyber-pack or pack who is partially active.
Phenotype - (also, wereside) Old terms used for theriotype, not in much use anymore.
Posing - Acting in the character of your theriotype, i.e *wags tail*. Often seen as informal role playing.
Prey drive - The desire (or lack of) to hunt prey or engage in hunting behaviours.
RPer/RP - Roleplayer/Roleplaying, the act of pretending to be something you are not as a game or for practice.
Suntherian - A Therian who's theriotype is integrated into their baseline personality, however they may still experience M-shifts, unlike Contherians.
Shaman - An individual who practices certain forms of magic, normally naturalistic based.
Shifting - A temporary change in some way to the individual's theriotype. See Types of Shift for more on each type.
Shifter's Disease - A 1996 essay by Jakkal outlined shifter's disease, whereby therians associate perfectly normal and natural traits with shifting. Jakkal used the phrase to describe situations where therians think that they're shapeshifting, but are in reality just experiencing ordinary conditions. It's compared to Medical Students Disease.
Shifting Haze - The mental fuzz surrounding all things non-theriotype which occurs during an intense shift.
Species Dysphoria - the feeling of longing for the theriotype form or habitat, discomfort in own body, dislike of own body.
Teen Wolf - A teenager, normally in USA, who wears a wolf tail, collar etc or identifies as a teen wolf. Tends to be disliked by the therian community due to the image they may give of therians to the general public.
Therian - Short term for therianthrope. A person who identifies on some level and to some degree as a non-human animal.
Therianthropy - The identification with therian identity, phenomena, culture and community surrounding this.
Therian Temple - A since-dead cult/religion revolving around the idea of therian magic.
Theriotype - The animal a therian identifies with.
Theriomythic - Someone who self identifies as such; generally a therian with a non-Earth based theriotype such as a dragon, phoenix or gryphon.
Therian Community - The global collection of therians, sometimes referencing the online community only.
Wanderlust - A strong desire to travel, to be nomadic
Were - Short term for werewolf, some animal-people also prefer to be called this.
Weredar - An internal 'radar' for detecting other therians (Weres).
WILD - Waking Induced Lucid Dream
Yearning - The longing for an otherkin or therian to experience part of their life which they cannot - for instance for wolf therians to have a tail, bird therians to fly, elves to be on their home world.
Zverolyudmi (зверолюдьми) (Russian) - Animal people.
Alpha: The first letter of the Greek alphabet. It is another term for a leader of a pack.
Animal-hearted: Having a strong connection and affinity for a certain animal/s. Used to describe a person who is not a therian but still holds a connection with an animal. (e.g. dog-hearted, dolphin-hearted, etc)
Awakening: The moment when a person realizes their therianthropic nature.
Contherian: A therian who does not experience shifts, but instead experiences a permanent combination of their human side and their theriotype.
Cladotherian: An individual whose theriotype is not specific but refers to a whole clade, such as the canine family.
Cyberpack: An online therian/were group that emulate some of the characteristics of a wolf pack.
Draconic: A person who identifies as a dragon. The distinction between draconics and dragon therians/theriomythics is a matter of personal choice.
Greymuzzle: An experienced, often older therian. Usually a well-known individual.
Howl: A therian gathering (also called a Yowl, Meow or Meet depending on the theriotypes present). Howls tend to take the form of camp outs or house parties. They have been held in Australia, Canada, Russia, Sweden, the UK and the US, varying between four and over fifty attendees.
Kintype: The non-human creature you identify with. (Otherkin term)
Misanthropy: The dislike of humankind.
Otherkin: The belief that you are not human and identify with any non-human. Therians fit in this category. All therians are Otherkin but not all Otherkin are therians. People refer to Otherkin that are not therians as simply Otherkin as a general term.
Species Dysphoria: The feeling of longing for one’s theriotype form and/or habitat; feeling discomfort and dislike of one’s own body.
Therian: Short for therianthrope; this is the colloquial term and most widely used in the community.
Theriomythic: Someone who self identifies as a mythical creature; generally a therian with a non-Earth based theriotype such as a dragon, phoenix or griffin.
Theriotype: The animal you identify as. Some therians, known as polytherians, have multiple theriotypes.
*D-Shift: Dream shift. The act of shifting in your dreams.
a. MILD - Meditation Induced Lucid Dream. Dream shift through meditation.
b. WILD – Wake Induced Lucid Dream. Dream shift from waking state.
*Lycanthropy – The ability to transform into a wolf physically.
*M-Flare – Mental Flare, A temporary state of extreme m-shift.
*Misanthropy – An extreme dislike of humans.
*MPSF – Most Prominent Secondary Form. Animal you identify with the most.
*M-Shift – Mental Shift, Shifting your thoughts to accustom that of your animal.
*Otherkin – An individual who considers themselves non-human.
*Psionics – The study and interaction with the metaphysical and supernatural.