Synpath: A term used to describe the act of identifying with, but not as, something or someone. When a lot of people say they ‘kin’ a character, without getting too technical, this term likely fits them best.

When you see people say they, ‘kin’ online, they’re typically referring to fiction kin— Which is a subtype of kin. This is characterised by either identifying as a species from a fictional work, or identifying as a certain character from a fictional work, sometimes in a previous life (spiritual kinning).

But, the term itself emerged from otherkin. Who anre individuals who identify integrally as something other than human, or not fully human. For example: Animals, mythical creatures, and such. This identity is often considered to be involuntary, and not ‘chosen’. Some believe their identity derives from spiritual phenomena, others believe it’s arisen from neurodiversity, etc. A lot of autistic people I know, identify as otherkin. As someone who’s autistic, I can understand that, as I also feel a stronger affinity with animals, than my identification as human.

There’s a lot of terms, discourse, etc. Associated with the kin community, (e.g the debate between ‘for fun’ kinning, vs. ‘spiritual’ kinning) so, I implore you to just dabble around online. This is a very brief summary.

I don’t identify with the kin community, not my style. So, I cannot give a true understanding or breadth of it.