Subculture
What does Therian mean?
A person who describes a non-human animal identity as part of who they are, not only as a fandom mascot.
Definition
Therian (therianthrope) names an identity account: someone situates a non-human animal as part of who they are. Drawing a character sits in the neighbouring fandom. Furry privileges art and character; otherkin is the wider umbrella, with elves and fiction.
Quadrobics and masks on TikTok reopened the argument. It is community vocabulary, a way of naming the account — without claiming a biological species or proven metaphysics.
Origin
English therianthrope. The group alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW) was born on 16 November 1992; identity posts show up around November 1993. In December 1994 James Harrion III suggested therianthropy in place of lycanthropy. Harvest Howl was 1994; the Meow Wars, 1996.
History
From Usenet the vocabulary reached TikTok of quadrobics and masks. Furry stayed on the art-and-character axis; otherkin stayed the wider umbrella. The word describes an identity account, not a biological species.
How it emerged
Animal identity needed a term that was not only an RPG wolf. AHWW gave the group; therianthropy gave the name TikTok reopened.
Usage examples
The word describes an identity account, not a biological species.
AHWW started in November 1992.
Translations
- pt therian
- en therian
- es therian
Synonyms
- AHWW
- otherkin
- furry