I was originally going to have these two (general species terms and community-specific species terms) be separate categories, but I decided to lump them into one since a lot of these don't really have a set definition, just what's widely accepted.
A quick note, whenever I say "the public," I mean the average person, anyone online who has access to the species' information.
Original Species: A species/creature/race created by a person or group.
Species: A shortened version of original species.
OS: Two possible definitions/usages.
Definition 1: The abbreviation for "original species."
Definition 2: The abbreviation for "Open species." Sometimes used as a synonym for original species.
CS: Two possible definitions/usages.
Definition 1: The abbreviation for "Closed species." Sometimes used as a synonym for original species.
Definition 2: The abbreviation for "Chicken Smoothie." Description from their website: "Chicken Smoothie is a free website where you can adopt virtual pets and watch them grow up over time...Players can chat with each other in our forums and roleplay boards. We also have a special Oekaki drawing forum where players can create and color-in drawings, and share them with others" (Chicken Smoothie Help: General Questions). Multiple species groups have been set up in the Oekaki forums.
TH: The abbreviation for "Toyhou.se." Toyhou.se is, primarily, a character storage website. It has some community aspects (forums and worlds). Multiple species groups and ArtRPGs have been set up in worlds, and/or are advertised and talked about in the Species Discussion forum.
Status: How restricted access to the species is.
Open: A species that has little to no restrictions. Can generally be made by the public. Does not require real world currencies, or any form of payment in general, for someone to get involved.
Semi-Open/Semi-Closed: A species that has some restrictions. Some options are available to the public. There are some options to get involved in the species without real world currencies, or any form of payment in general.
How I distinguish between the two is:
Semi-Open: Half or more of the species is available to the public.
Semi-Closed: Less than half of the species is available to the public.
Closed: A species that has a lot of restrictions. Cannot be made by the public without some form of permission from the species' Staff (MYO, Rights, a statement/agreement, etc.). Often requires some form of payment to participate.
Private: A species that is only available to a specific person or group of people. Cannot be made by the public.
Staff: A group of people who run and have authority over a species and it's community.
Staff Member: A general term for someone who is a part of the Staff.
Owner: The person who owns a species.
Co-Owner: Someone with joint ownership of a species.
Moderator: Someone who oversees/monitors the community.
Community Helpers: People who work alongside the Staff to work on and/or run the species and/or it's community. Do not have the same level of authority as Staff.
Artist: Someone who help keep the community active by making adopts, resources, references, and more. Artists are permanent additions to the Community Helpers team.
Permanent Artist: Synonym/alternate term for Artist.
Guest Artist: Someone who help keep the community active by making adopts, resources, references, and more. Guest Artists are temporary additions to the Community Helpers team.
GA: The abbreviation for "Guest Artist."
Species/World Helper: Someone who helps make updates to the species and worlds, and create new concepts and ideas.
Species Helper: Synonym/alternate term for Species/World Helper. May be used to specify someone who works exclusively on the species.
World Helper: Synonym/alternate term for Species/World Helper. May be used to specify someone who exclusively does worldbuilding.
Event Team: A group of people who help keep the community active by coming up with and hosting events.
Event Team Member: Someone on the Event Team.
MYO: The abbreviation for "make your own." Allows someone to make a character from a species, with some restrictions based on the kind of MYO.
MYO Ticket: Synonym/alternate term for MYO.
MYO Event: Event where participants can make their own character from a species. Most have restrictions, though it varies from event to event.
Rights: Permission to make an unlimited amount of characters from a species, with some restrictions based on the kind of Rights (ex. Common Cryscential Rights allow someone to make common cryscentials, while Uncommon Cryscential Rights allow someone to make common and uncommon cryscentials, and neither type allows the Rights Holder to make defect cryscentials).
Rights Holder: Someone who has Rights.
ArtRPG: The abbreviation for "Art Role Playing Game."
ARPG: Two possible definitions/usages.
Definition 1: Another abbreviation for "Art Role Playing Game."
Definition 2: The abbreviation for "Action Role Playing Game."
TCC: The abbreviation for "The Celestial Council." The Celestial Council is an ArtRPG based around kahvmas and the Kleyabbaix System. Offshoot of Blue's Species Hub.
TWoD: The abbreviation for "The World of Delvorina." The World of Delvorina is an ArtRPG based around Delvorina, a fantasy world full of sentient dolls – some with magical abilities – that is set in a time similar to the medieval times on Earth. Offshoot of Blue's Species Hub.
BSH: Rarely used abbreviation of "Blue's Species Hub." Blue's Species Hub is not an ArtRPG.
Universe: Setting for a species and their lore.
World: Two possible definitions/usages.
Definition 1: A specific planet within a universe.
Definition 2: A synonym for universe.
AU: The abbreviation for "alternate universe."
WSOFF: The abbreviation for "When Stars Of Fate Fall." When Stars Of Fate Fall is a sci-fi/horror book series that multiple species here are in. Even if not directly mentioned in the books, many species exist in the universe the books take place in.
CMotNW: The abbreviation for "Calamitous Message of the New World." Calamitous Message of the New World is a sci-fi/dystopia novel that will feature some original species. So far, only one species is officially in the book and being worked on. More will come in the future.
BWoWoF: The abbreviation for "Broken Wings on Wisps of Fate." Broken Wings on Wisps of Fate is an Upon Wings Of Change fanfic, which features a fan-made subspecies and AU versions of some kahvmas characters.
While some of these terms are used throughout original species spaces, and those generally accepted meanings (but, again, no set definition accepted by everyone), I wanted to clearly define them here.
Build: Two possible definitions/usages.
Definition 1: The general anatomy/body shape of a species. Has multiple categories (below).
Definition 2: The height and weight of a species. May include length or wingspan when applicable.
Feral: A species that is, naturally, a quadruped without a human-like face.
Anthro: A species that is, naturally, a biped without a human-like face.
Humanoid: A species that, naturally, has a human-like face, and may have human-like body parts.
Other: A species whose build doesn't fit any of the other categories.
Feral*: A species that can be a quadruped without a human-like face. There is some kind of requirement/condition for them to have this build, like a trait or mutation, as it is not how they typically look.
Anthro*: A species that can be a biped without a human-like face. There is some kind of requirement/condition for them to have this build, like a trait or mutation, as it is not how they typically look.
Humanoid*: A species that can have a human-like face, and may have human-like body parts. There is some kind of requirement/condition for them to have this build, like a trait or mutation, as it is not how they typically look.
Other*: A species that can have a build that doesn't fit any of the other categories. There is some kind of requirement/condition for them to have this build, like a trait or mutation, as it is not how they typically look.
These terms (feral, anthro, humanoid, other) are not used for species that allow this for AUs. It has to be written in their info that this build is a normal, cannon/in-universe possibility for the species, even if it's rare or locked behind specific requirements.
Conditional Shapeshifter: Members of this species are naturally shapeshifters. There are limits as to what they can change/how they can change.
Unconditional Shapeshifter: Members of this species are naturally shapeshifters. There are no limits as to what they can change/how they can change.
Conditional Shapeshifter*: Members of this species can be shapeshifters. There are limits as to what they can change/how they can change. There is some kind of requirement/condition for them to do this, like a trait or mutation, as it is not an ability all of them have.
Unconditional Shapeshifter*: Members of this species can be shapeshifters. There are no limits as to what they can change/how they can change. There is some kind of requirement/condition for them to do this, like a trait or mutation, as it is not an ability all of them have.
These terms (conditional shapeshifter, unconditional shapeshifter) are only used for species that specifically have shapeshifting as a natural ability. These tags are not used when a species can have shapeshifting as a form of magic, or can be an alt. form for a shapeshifter of another species. These tags are not used for species that allow this for AUs, it has to be written in their info that this is a normal, cannon/in-universe possibility for the species, even if it's rare or locked behind specific requirements.
Consciousness: "The state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought: mind" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
Sentient: "Capable of sensing or feeling : conscious of or responsive to the sensations of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling" and "A sentient being is one who perceives or responds to sensations of whatever kind—sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. Sentient ultimately comes from the Latin verb sentire, which means "to feel" or "to perceive"" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). " "...capable of experiencing things through its senses" (Collins Dictionary). "Able to experience feelings" (Cambridge Dictionary).
No Sentience/Insentient: Something incapable of consciousness, perception, and emotions.
Example(s): Sponges, corals, and jellyfish.
Low Level Sentience: Something with limited consciousness, perception, and emotions.
Example(s): Bacteria.
High Level Sentience: Something that is conscious, perceptive, and capable of a wide range of emotions.
Example(s): Dogs, cats, horses, and humans.
Sapient: "intelligent; able to think" (Cambridge Dictionary). "Full of knowledge; wise; sagacious; discerning" (Collins Dictionary). "Having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment" and "having or showing self-awareness" (dictionary.com). Able to learn, use logic and abstract reasoning, solve problems, and understand others and the world around it.
No Sapience: Something incapable of intelligence, wisdom, insight, judgement, and self-awareness. Actions driven by innate behaviors and instincts, not conscious decisions.
Example(s): Flies, salmon, and frogs.
Low Level Sapience: Something with some sapient qualities, but not enough to be considered fully sapient (ex. limited intelligence, wisdom, insight, judgement, and self-awareness). Actions at least partially driven by innate behaviors and instincts, not conscious decisions.
Example(s): Corvids, parrots, dolphins, and elephants.
High Level Sapience: Something that is intelligent, wise, insightful, self-aware, and capable of judgement. Some actions may be influenced by innate behaviors and instincts, but they are fully capable of conscious decisions, including choosing to sometimes go against innate behaviors and instincts.
Example(s): Humans.
Real World Examples: Is there a word meaning both Sentient and Sapient? has a few good examples of sentience and sapience.
Species Examples:
Saixneshes have high level sentience and low level sapience. They have multiple senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch) and are aware of their surroundings. They can experience multiple emotions (calm, excitement, sadness, grief, disgust, fear, frustration, etc.), and pick up on (some of) the emotions of others. They show some signs of sapience (can solve puzzles, learn from past experiences and apply that knowledge to current situations, and understand some words and short phrases), but not to the same level as a human. Many of their actions are still driven by innate behaviors and instincts. They're best compared to a crow.
Esserfaere have high level sentience and high level sapience. They have multiple senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch), are aware of their surroundings, can experience multiple emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear, calm, embarrassment, etc.), and can pick up on the emotions of others. They show multiple signs of sapience (self-aware, able to learn and apply knowledge and skills, able to make decisions, have a concept of morals, can invent things and use what they've created, etc.), and have created things like society and culture. They have some innate behaviors and instincts, but are otherwise capable of conscious decisions, including deciding to go against the few innate behaviors and instincts they still have.
Low vs high level sentience/sapience was made up to further make a distinction here between something possessing a human-like level of emotions, intelligence, and understanding of itself and the world around it vs the level of those qualities seen in animals. There's a difference between bacteria, lizards, dogs, crows, dolphins, and humans, but all have qualities that fall under sentience and some have qualities that fall under sapience.
I don't use low sentience/sapience and high sentience/sapience a lot; most of the time I just use sentient/sapient. However, I felt I needed to have something indicating whether a species is supposed to be human-like or be an animal (ex. Delvorinan dolls are human-like, while all of the companion species in TWoD are animals).
Time System: How time works on the species' homeworld, or the system they've (in the lore) chosen to use.
Age System: How the species ages, and the terms used to describe how they age.
A little refresher.
DM: The abbreviation for "direct message." Used to refer to sending a message directly and privately to another person.
WIP: The abbreviation for "work in progress." Used to refer to something that is unfinished.
IRL: The abbreviation for "in real life." Used to refer to things that happen in person rather than online.
NSFW: The abbreviation for "not safe for work." Used to refer to things that you wouldn't view at your/the average job or workplace. Often refers to content that is sexual or visually disturbing.
AI: The abbreviation for "artificial intelligence." Could be used in a few ways, for a few reasons, but all relate to artificial intelligence.
NFT: The abbreviation for "non-fungible tokens."
Real World Currency: A currency used by people in real life. Examples include: United States dollar (USD/$), Australian dollar (AUD/$), Euro (EUR/€), Indian rupee (INR/₹), South Korean won (KRW/₩), Japanese yen (JPY/¥), Danish krone (DKK/kr), South African rand (ZAR/R), and more.
Online Currency/Virtual Currency: A currency used by people online that isn't a real world currency. Made up for specific groups (websites, games, communities, etc.). Largely unregulated (at least by government organizations) and lack official connection to the real economy. Examples include: Chicken Smoothie dollars (C$) DeviantArt points (DAPoints/pts.), Flight Rising treasure (t), Amino Coins (AC), TCC alexandrite gems (Gems/g), and more.