kin

en-noun

kin (countable and uncountable, plural kins or kin)

From Middle English kyn, from Old English cynn (“kind, sort, rank”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuni, from Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, generation, descent”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁yom, from *ǵenh₁- (“to produce”).
Cognate with Scots kin (“relatives, kinfolk”), North Frisian kinn, kenn (“gender, race, family, kinship”), Dutch kunne (“gender, sex”), Middle Low German kunne (“gender, sex, race, family, lineage”), Danish køn (“gender, sex”), Swedish kön (“gender, sex”), Icelandic kyn (“gender”), Finnish kunnia (“honour, glory”), Ingrian kunnia (“reputation”), and through Indo-European, with Latin genus (“kind, sort, ancestry, birth”), Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “kind, race”), Sanskrit जनस् (jánas, “kind, race”), Albanian dhen (“(herd of) small cattle”).

cog

c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers
You are of kin, and so must be a friend to their persons.

Based on the number of teeth ammonites had—nine—it's believed that their closest living kin are octopuses.

2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 84:

(collectively) Persons of the same race or family; kindred.

Such sensations, however, were too near a kin to resentment to be long guiding Fanny's soliloquies.

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XIII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 248:

Relationship; same-bloodedness or affinity; near connection or alliance, as of those having common descent.


kin

It turns out my back-fence neighbor is kin to one of my co-workers.

Related by blood or marriage, akin. Generally used in "kin to".


-kin

From Middle English -kin, -ken (also as -ke, -k), perhaps from Old English -ca, -ce, but more likely from Middle Dutch -ken (compare cognate Middle English -chen, -chin, from Old English -ċen), apparently representing Proto-West Germanic *-ikīn, *-ukīn, a double diminutive, from *-ik, *-uk (> Old English -oc) + *-īn (compare Old English -en). Cognate with Dutch -ken, Low German -ken, German -chen, Old English -ċen. More at -ock, -en.

(now archaic) Forming diminutives of nouns.


therianthrope

/ˈθɛɹ.i.ənˌθɹoʊp/

From Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”) + Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos, “man”).

af

Among the depictions are a black rhinoceros, the body of an antelope covered by a red line, two white animals with black stripes that may be zebras, and a therianthrope. The therianthrope (Figure 9.11) appears to have a feline body with human hind legs that may have been added after the original legs had faded somewhat (Wendt 1974:27).

2016, Carmel Schrire, Past and Present in Hunter Gatherer Studies, Routledge, →ISBN:

One appears to have a large beak while another has an appendage resembling a tail. In the language of archaeology, these are therianthropes, or characters that embody a mix of human and animal characteristics. […] The otherworldly nature of the therianthropes also raises the possibility that they are mythical beings, or manifestations of “animal spirit helpers” that are common in shamanic beliefs, according to the study.

2019 December 11, Becky Ferreira, “Mythical Beings May Be Earliest Imaginative Cave Art by Humans”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(mythology) Any mythical being which is part human, part animal.

homme-bête

any mythical being which is part human, part animal


otherkin

en-noun

otherkin (plural otherkin or (nonstandard) otherkins)

otherkin (plural)
otherkins (nonstandard plural)

It appears that many otherkin are unaware of what makes them different. They just know they are not normal humans.

2000, Cara Des'tai, “The Internet goes mythic”, in Fate:

A close friend of mine turned out to be otherkin as well, and I added her to the group so she could discover who she is.

2014, James Vaughan, When Death Calls, →ISBN:

You’ve already told Tumblr that you are definitely, really a wolf with wings; you’ve argued in favor of Otherkin rights and awareness; you’ve become a leader of the Otherkin community.

2015 January 12, Jess Zimmerman, “The internet is fertile ground for the mosaic of allegiances out of which teens build identity”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

In addition to the otherkin identify as animals, there are some who identify as mythical creatures, like dragons, fairies, or vampires; fictionkin, who identify as fictional characters, frequently from anime series or videogames; weatherkin, like Marco, who identify as weather systems; conceptkin, who identify as abstract concepts; spacekin, who identify as celestial bodies; and several other even more obscure categories (musickin, timeperiodkin—the list goes on).

2016 August 4, Callie Beusman, “'I Look at a Cloud and I See It as Me': The People Who Identify As Objects”, in Broadly:

There exists an actual community of people who pretend to be animals and call themselves “otherkins.” As a piece in Vice once put it, “Otherkins are people too; they just identify as nonhuman.”

2017, Matt Walsh, The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Left’s Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender, New York, N.Y.: Image, Crown Publishing Group, →ISBN:

One does not conjure up new categories of being lightly, but Laycock does not hesitate and also introduces the concept of ‘otherkins’, “individuals who identify as ‘not entirely human’.” Otherkins have an unorthodox “framework of metaphysical beliefs,” Laycock says, “If it were orthodox they would not be other-kin.”

2019, David Cohen, “The Vampire Develops, Academic Studies and the Poet Flees the Bailiffs”, in The Psychology of Vampires (The Psychology of Everything), Abingdon, Oxon, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN:

The page stretched for thousands of entries by users named Starkin and Faefolk411 and NosferatuReborn, their avatars drawn from luridly-rendered fantasy paintings or sketches of people with horns or hooves or wings. “You ever heard of otherkins? They’re people who identify as part animal or spirit. They claim to be dragons, vampires, elves, that sort of thing.”

2019, Justin Joschko, “Someone Who Likes the Ramones”, in Whitetooth Falls, Carbondale, Ill.: JournalStone Publishing, →ISBN, page 57:

A person who claims or believes that their soul, essence, or identity is non-human.

Otherkin

a person who claims or believes that their soul, essence, or identity is non-human


therian

From Theria + -ian. From translingual Theria, from Ancient Greek θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”).

der

Any member of the taxonomic subclass Theria, the placental and marsupial mammals.


otakukin

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-otakukin.wav

The definition of entertainingly nutty would be otakukin.

2006, Cypher, “Considering Snuhwolf”, in alt.horror.werewolves (Usenet):

I pointed out that you telling me that Otakukin are insane made as much sense as belief in God. Both are things taken on faith, you see?

2007, Juan Valdez, “Ping Juan Valdez”, in alt.recovery.aa (Usenet):

(dated, Internet, sometimes capitalized) A person who claims or believes that their soul is a reincarnation or parallel incarnation of a fictional character (especially, from anime, manga, or video games).


kintype

Though the experience of being otherkin is typically described in spiritual terms, it is also reported to have physical aspects, such as the sensation of phantom limbs for the body parts their kintype possess but which are absent in the human form […]

2015, Joseph P. Laycock, Spirit Possession around the World, page 265:

The base type of an otherkin's identity, such as animal or robot.


spacekin

Frau Vanderhoeven waved to me to come over. "Greetings, spacekin!" she said. "We are only just finishing our funeral pyre."

2009, Karen Subach, “A Wolf Should Roam”, in New England Review, volume 30, number 1, Middlebury College:

There's plantkin, spacekin—who's to say planets don't have souls?—and a whole bunch of other Otherkin, It's not just animals.

2017, Bryant A. Loney, Take Me to the Cat, →ISBN, page 190:

A type of otherkin that identifies as an astronomical body.


Otherkin

Some elves claim to be allergic to iron and other products of encroaching modernity, while one breed of Otherkin—dragons in human bodies—insist that having no allergies is a sign of Otherness.

2001 February 13, Nick Mamatas, “Elven Like Me”, in The Village Voice, →ISSN, archived from the original on 2015-05-16:

The living Otherkin are a loosely affiliated group of mostly young people who believe themselves to be magical and spiritual creatures: elves, werewolves, dragons, fairies, angels, hobbits.

2005 October 4, Christine Wicker, Not in Kansas Anymore: A Curious Tale of How Magic is Transforming America, 1st edition, New York: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 240:

Another is that I myself identify as Otherkin—a wolf therianthrope, to be exact—and I find this particular subculture to be absolutely fascinating.

2007 April 20, Lupa, A Field Guide to Otherkin, 1st edition, Stafford: Megalithica Books, →ISBN, page 18:

In an archaically bound volume, Gibson explores the affirmation of the Otherkin community (who identify as partially or wholly animal) through the collation of visuals from mainstream culture, including Instagram filters and computer game clips.

2020 September 16, Hannah Clugston, “Soft Bodies review – tech simulations of life's squishy stuff”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Alternative letter-case form of otherkin.


plantkin

Some people were definitely fucking around: One blog, run by a "social justice warrior plantkin" who obsessively demands that their followers check their species privilege, was clearly a hoax.

As a demisexual plantkin I can't stand how white privileged transgendered people are acting as if they're the vanguard of the trans movement.

2015 September 4, Michelle Steiner, “Caitlyn Jenner on Ellen: Marriage equality views have evolved since transitioning”, in Entertainment Weekly:

No, sorry, but Jared is plantkin, though he's still searching to narrow it down.

A type of otherkin that identifies as a plant.


wolfaboo

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-wolfaboo.wav

Undaunted, Bridges has continued telling his story, thanking “all of you wolf loving fools” for gaining him new followers on his Wolf Control website. “I only had to ban 150 or so wolfaboos,” he crowed. “You people are your own worst enemies ... please, please, keep it up.”

2014 November 8, Betsy Marston, “Heard around the west”, in Lewiston News-Argus, volume 132, number 127, page 4:

Last year I came across a forum where wolfaboos believed that they were "special snowflakes" who where blessed with the ability to physically shape shift into wolves.

2018, Scary Garry SG1, 99, unnumbered page

Frustration with fluff and wolfaboos is understandable: at stake in Otherkin representation is not merely an opinion about how the community should be characterized, but the very idea that Otherkin identification is a viable way to exist in the world.

2019, Devin Proctor, "On Being Non-Human: Otherkin Identification and Virtual Space", dissertation submitted to George Washington University, page 243

(Internet slang, derogatory) Someone who is obsessed with wolves and identifies with them, especially a furry or otherkin.


therianthropy

/ˌθɛɹiˈænθɹəpi/

Despite occasional YouTube videos which demonstrate the activities of a 'howl' (a wolf meet), the small amount of existing research into therianthropy as a cultural phenomenon demonstrates that the communities largely exist online and rarely venture into real space.

2017, Debra Benita Shaw, Posthuman Urbanism: Mapping Bodies in Contemporary City Space, page 142:

(otherkin subculture) The characteristic of being a therianthrope; therianism.


demonkin

Equivalent to demon + -kin (from otherkin).

Someone who identifies as a demon or demonic being.


fictionkin

Otakukin sound like something out of a science fiction or fantasy novel. However, that is precisely what they are. Most simply stated, otakukin (or fictionkin) are humans who, in a past life, were someone or something else, drawn out of multiple universes or worlds.

2009, American Folklore Meeting, Program and Abstracts, page 95:

This community was originally for those who believe themselves to be fictionkin/mediakin/otakukin, however we accept Soulbonders with Bonds from fictional sources, people who are unsure or the plain old curious folks.

2014, Danielle Kirby, Fantasy and Belief: Alternative Religions, Popular Narratives, and Digital Cultures, page 47:

Once such group's members subscribe to a metaphysics that considers fictional worlds fully real, or that regards what most view as reality as another fiction. Included here are fictionkin and mediakin, people who claim spiritual or soul […]

2018, Hugh Urban, Greg Johnson, Irreverence and the Sacred: Critical Studies in the History of Religions:

An individual whose personal identity is based in fiction of some kind, whether it be as a fictional character, a fictional race or species, etc. Depending on the individual, some who identify as fictionkin may also categorize their experience as an experience within otherkinity or therianthropy.

フィクションキン

person who identifies as a fictional character or species


mediakin

Simultaneously, the Otherkin highly proximate relationship to popular fictional narrative clearly locates such beliefs within the framework of hyper-real religiosity. This relationship becomes most apparent within the context of Otakukin and Mediakin, and related concepts such as soulbonding, but is nonetheless present within the broader community as well.

2012, Adam Possamai, Handbook of Hyper-real Religions:

2014, Danielle Kirby, Fantasy and Belief: Alternative Religions, Popular Narratives, and Digital Cultures, page 46:

Once such group's members subscribe to a metaphysics that considers fictional worlds fully real, or that regards what most view as reality as another fiction. Included here are fictionkin and mediakin, people who claim spiritual or soul [...]


kinnie

(sometimes derogatory) An otherkin, especially a fictionkin.


quadrobics

Likely a blend of quadrupedal (“walking on four feet”) + aerobics.

blend

Physical actions, movements, and exercises performed by an individual on all fours to mimic those of an animal.

квадро́бика

physical actions, movements and exercises performed by an individual on all fours to mimic those of an animal


phytanthrope

From phyto- (“pertaining to plants”) + -anthrope (“human”), by analogy with therianthrope (“someone with an intense spiritual or psychological identification as a non-human animal”).

affix

[See title]

2020 August 13, u/sixbilliongods, “Phytanthrope/Plantkin pride flags!”, in r/otherkin, Reddit:

Yeah! There's phytanthrope/plantkin for people who feel they're plants, and objects usually just fall under objectkin!

Darahagh, the oak phytanthrope, in our system has been revamping his personal essay about his experiences. He's not done yet but its already over 14,000 words long. Good grief dude.

2022 February 11, HouseofChimeras, Twitter:

Phytanthropy is really interesting to me- how did you figure out you're a phytanthrope, if I may ask? I know a lot of therianthropes and otherkin figure it out from feelings and instincts, but does that apply to phytanthropy?

2023 October 5, u/zhenyuanlong, r/alterhuman, Reddit:

(neologism) Synonym of plantkin (“a type of otherkin that identifies as a plant”).


alterhuman

en-noun

alterhuman (countable and uncountable, plural alterhumans)

(uncountable) A category that encompasses non-human and similar identities, such as otherkin or psychological multiplicity.


theta-delta

From the first character of θηρίον (thēríon, “wild beast”), and Δ (delta), mathematical symbol for change.

Your "Therian symbol", the Theta Delta, is incorrectly drawn: The bar of Theta should have crossbars on the ends, while Delta's left face should be noticeably thinner than the other two. In any event, it doesn't appear to be very "common" or "well-liked", given this is the first I've seen of it.

2006 March 18, Jure Sah, “Free Sibe”, in alt.horror.werewolves, Google Groups:

I think that's a pretty neat logo and I definitely prefer it to the Theta-Delta (which makes me think of dentists...and it's just an ugly symbol to me). I think that logo is cute and could be easily worn on a t-shirt though I think the hoof print needs resized.

2012 October 4, Arawn, “An Awesome Therian Logo”, in Werelist:

Hey psst would anyone be interested in buying a theta-delta (therian symbol thing) soft enamel pin if I custom ordered some? I'm baffled that they don't already exist

2018 August 3, CoyoteTraveller, Twitter:

Guten morgen, I appreciate the advice! Very smart… that could actually work, although, she may recognize the delta in the theta delta, since she watches those alpha männlich videos with my father…

2023 October 14, u/Grandma_Biter, “How do I convince my mom the theta delta is a different symbol?”, in r/Therian, Reddit:

(subculture) A symbol, depicting the uppercase Greek letter theta interwoven with a delta, that represents therianthropy (similar to the heptagram for otherkinity).


alterhumanity

From alterhuman + -ity. Otherwise analysable as alter- + humanity.


polytherian

From poly- (“many”) + therian (“clipping of therianthrope”).

prefix

(otherkin fandom slang) A therianthrope with multiple theriotypes.


quadrobist

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-quadrobist.wav