kemoner, ケモナー

In Japanese, "kemoner," or kemonaa ケモナー, means a "furry." As in, someone who is a furry. A person in the furry fandom. Furries.

Manga: Kemono Michi けものみち (Chapter 1)

Origin

The slang is a portmanteau of kemono ケモノ, which means "beast" but can also refer to furry characters in Japanese, plus the English suffix "-er," like in "summoner," which would be katakanized to samanaa サマナー. So, literally, it means "kemono-er."

The exact origin of the word is uncertain. It's thought to have been coined by the end of the 1990's, when a bunch of things with furry characters were made.

Gene Diver, 1994.
Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger, 1995.
Darkstalkers, 1994.
Pokémon, 1996.

Another theory is that the doujinshi circle called kemonaazu ケモナーズ, "kemoners," which was in activity from 1998 to 2003, was where the word began.

In either case, the 2006 game .hack//G.U. is said to be responsible for making the word known.

Usage

The word kemonaa is the word for furries in Japanese. If you were to use the English word "furry" instead, it would be loaned as faarii ファーリー in Japanese.

For reference, some examples of it actually being used:

Manga: Kemono Michi けものみち (Chapter 1)