Costume: an outfit or a disguise worn on Mardi Gras, Halloween, or similar occasions. A mascot is a person, an animal, an object, or a costumed character believed to bring good luck, especially one kept as the symbol of an organization such as a sports team.

Fursuit: a slang term for a costume. A less acceptable slang term is zoot, but some do not like this term. There are three basic kinds of costume: the scratch or make do style, the fursuit style, and the mascot style of costume.

A make-do style of costume is improvised and uses what ever materials are on hand. For example, a store bought mask, garden gloves, and a rope for a tail would be a make-do costume.

A fursuit style of costume is the kind seen at furry conventions. It is usually custom made as a labor of love and can be very detailed and usually has a true to life head.

Mascot: A style of costume is the kind usually seen at sports or corporate promotional events. It usually has limited detailing and a oversized head to be easily visible at a convention or at a stadium.

Character Wrangler: same as spotter or lead. The person who does the talking for the critter who can't

Compression area: an area on a fursuit (such as an arm or knee) that is specially designed to absorb a lot of abuse

Digitigrade: Putting the entirety of ones weight on the toes and balls of the foot, as opposed to plantigrade, walking with weight evenly distributed between heel and balls of the foot.

Fat Suit: A padded suit worn beneath the main fursuit to give the fursuit bulk.

Faux Digitgrade: Type of fursuit design using padding over the knees and calves to simulate an extra joint and digitigrade stance.

Furpile: a pile of 3 or more fursuiters together hugging and or scritching each other

Full body fursuit: fursuit covering the entire length of the body.

Fursuit: a costume worn at sporting events and at conventions usually in the shape of an animal

Handler: a fursuiter's assistant. Usually out of costume, helps guide the fursuiter and keep him or her safe.

Ice Pack (or Cold Vest): Garment worn under a fursuit lined with ice or other cooling material for comfort.

Lookers: People who get as close as possible to you and try to see the person inside the suit.

Mascot Melding or Melding: This applies to suits that are very dark in coloring especially the black fur suits and when a shot is taken the suit blends into the dark background. This happens the most inside the hotels where natural light is limited.

Minute Mascots: These are those folks for whatever reason may not have been seen at con in suit. Either they have made an appearance in other suits or they find wearing a suit too hot and make a short appearance. Anyway they are the ones who only a few of us see or if they do appear in a photo most people find themselves saying “I don't remember seeing that character at the con”.

Monterey Mills: Highly popular and recomended brand of imitation fur fabric.

Mundane: those who are not involved with the furry fandom.

Partial fursuit: bits and pieces of animal costume..generally intended to be worn with street clothing

Pawpet: Animal Puppet

PES (Phantom Ear Syndrome): is much more common though because (imho) of the placement of the tails and the ability to wear them with much better and more realistic effects/feedback than most ear sets do.

Pile: The thickness of a furlike fabric.

Pop the top: Take off the fursuit head.

PTS (Phantom Tail Syndrome): This is the wierd little feeling that you still have your tail on after you've gotten out of suit (Rynger Raccon reports that “I get this every time I've ever been in suit, and I know other fursuiters get this too.”)

Prosthetic: an appliance, usually made of latex worn in lieu of a mask

Scritching (or skritching): to rake one's nails or the paws of a fursuit on the back in greeting

Slush Cast: A latex casting pulled from a mold.

Suit up: put on a fursuit (ex “I'm going to suit up now”)

Spotter: Synonym for Handler

Walkaround: Another synonym for a fursuit, usually refering to theme park or corporate trademark mascot.

Zoot: Synonym for fursuit (lesser used).