#vivterms

[wanderingcritter]

of course you have blue fur and vivterms

[cosmicstrays]

human-to-dog species terms / vivterms !

note: the vast majority of these are also applicable to many other animals, but it'd take me forever to specify which and when and all that and i am just a dogwolf ahah! ^^;; hope this helps anyhow !! please do not tag as "b!oterms", the term is anti-physical-nonhumans and i am a zoanthropic holothere ! i will NOT discourse abt it, go bark up a tree !!!!

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parts of the body: [human → dog]

hair -> fur hair on head → mane hair drawn around front of neck → ruff nose + mouth + chin → muzzle / snout teeth → fangs upper lip → flews [rhymes with "crews"]

skin (overall) → hide skin on front of neck → dewlap skin on back of neck → scruff / nape hair on back of neck → hackles

shoulder blades → withers hands → (fore)paws palms of hands + balls of feet → (paw)pads thumbs → dewclaws fur on hairy hands → mops nails → claws

butt → rump / croup [rhymes with "group"] lower belly + genitals → loins ankles → hocks feet → (hind) paws

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fur colors: [term — description]

belton — intermingled white + other colored hairs bicolor(ed) — coat of 2 distinct colors brindle — even mix of dark + light, usu. like tiger/tabby stripes buff — light brownish yellow

fawn — pale brown / golden brown, like a fawn grizzled — roan pattern mixing black OR blue-gray OR iron-gray OR red w/ white harlequin — black or blue patches on white hound-colored — black, tan, white + black saddle

lion-colored — golden brown w/ a yellow-to-red undertone, like a lion [see: ibizan hound] merle — mottled + white fur (usu. red, black, or blue) [see: australian shepherd] mottled — irregular pattern of streaks, spots, speckles, or blotches particolor(ed) — patches of 2 different colors on 1 base color

piebald — black + white (or any other 2 colors) in patches roan — even blended mix of white + another color, not gray from age sable — black tips on silver, gray, gold, fawn, or brown hairs saddle — dark patches on the back

(be)spectacle(d) — markings around eyes ticked — distinct speckling of black / dark colors on light tricolor — coat of 3 distinct colors (usu. black, white + tan) wheaten — pale yellow or light fawn

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fur types: longhaired — long fur shorthaired — short fur smooth-coated — visibly + tactilely smooth wirehaired — very textured fur (usu. straight)

corded — tight curls to coils to locs [see: komondor + puli] feathered — long, thin, + wispy at the edges jacket — short + close to the body stand-off coat — fluffy coat billowing out from body instead of lying flat [see: norweigian elkhound] topknot — tuft on top of head

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life + events: [human → dog]

sleeping place → den, lair storage (esp. of food) → cache

being born, giving birth → whelping child, youth → whelp, pup family, comrades → pack / packmates moving out, starting out on your own → dispersal partner → mate course, legacy → track

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gender*: masculine / neutral gender → dog feminine gender → dogess, tife (plur. tifan) [pron. "TEE-fay", "TEE-fahn"]

*dogs don't really have "genders" genders, ofc, but i wanted to include this for those who DO choose gendered animal terms for themselves, and were looking for an alternative to "bitch". "tife" is an old english word also meaning female dog!

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sources!!!

dog breed info: list of dog terms (cw for mentions of animal modification) wikipedia: canine terminology (accessed 18 june 2025) wikipedia: dog anatomy (accessed 18 june 2025) wiktionary: tife / tifan

[pumpkin-magpie]

Horse vivterms I’m silly

Hands/Feet > Hooves

Arms > Front Legs

Legs > Hind Legs

Bangs > Forelock

Hair > Mane

House > Stable

Room > Stall

Will add more with inspiration :3

[viathetorturedpoet]

NEW PRONOUNS DROP 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥

Okay so my species dysphoria is KILLING ME so I'm gonna be incorporating sea lions and leopard seals into me gender now 👏🏻

Seal/Sealself

Shell/Shellself

Sea/Seaself

Ocean/Oceanself

Leopard/Leopardself

Blood/Bloodself

Sinew/Sinewself

Also ima start using vivterms yayyyyy

Hopefully this will make my sea lion alter feel more at home too :3 Also she has a name now! Her name is Yacht. LIKE THE BOAT. IT'S SO CUUUUTE 💕

[lily-ribbon]

Coining this because I can't find anything like it

Exoterms

A term that someone uses to describe things separate from their body.

It's like vivterms, but for only objects and such

Examples of exoterms include:

Calling your house or bedroom a 'den'

Calling your clothing 'fur' or a 'pelt"

Calling your children 'kits', 'pups', etc

This was intended for alterhumans who would like to separate themselves from 'human' terms, but anyone may use them if they feel like it.

[antleredseb]

hey, what’s that noise? oh, it’s just seb grunting .ᐟ

guide to deer vivterms ✶

vivterms are terms used to describe body parts or surroundings in animalistic/nonhuman ways instead of human. there can be dog vivterms, bear vivterms, demonic vivterms, and so on. it is not limited to deer.

some examples of deer vivterms include:

skin (human) -> fur (deer)

hands (human) -> hooves (deer)

face (human) -> snout (deer)

legs (human) -> back legs (deer)

arms (human) -> front legs (deer)

house/home/apartment (human) -> bedding (deer)

speaking (human) -> grunting (deer)

shouting in distress (human) -> bleating (deer)

there are some terms that are not on the human body to begin with/cannot be transferred from human to nonhuman terms but that i would still like to be recognized/referred to as having these parts, such as tails and antlers.

these are the basics, and this should give you a good enough idea of how they work and how you should use them. if you still have more specific questions, please feel free to ask!

divider credits: @/caramelaise

[boyzoidyke]

got embarrassed trying to tell people i like using vivterms and deleted my messages talking about it, so instead im going to just be using them on myself and waiting for people to catch on

not that it really comes up at all that much anyways really but yk!

[galan-thus-nivalis]

Ok, having known about the words "bioterms" and "vivterms" for all of 5 minutes now, I do have to say that regardless of the everything else around the current bio- vs. viv- discourse, "vivterms" comes out on top for me because the etymology itself is more obviously inclusive of all the facets of experience an alterhuman might want to cover with affirming terms. I get that functionally the two words mean "exactly the same thing," but a fox's den isn't a part of its biology, it's a part of its life.