Ancient greek myths and legends describe a variety of both unique creatures, and hybrids whose body looks like the merge of at least two real creatures. One of the most prominent of them is a centaur - a creature with a human upper body, extending below the waist with a typical equine body. In modern popular culture, the definition of "centaur" has been expanded to include all humans merged with the body of any ungulate animal, such as equine, cervine or bovine. Meanwhile, in the Furry community, any centaur-like creature is denoted by the generalized word "taur" and is usually depicted as a beastmorphic human merged with a matching typical beast. This word is also used as a base to form such compound nouns as "cervinetaur", "felinetaur" and "caninetaur". However, the usage of the word "taur" to denote centaur-like creatures is erroneous, because instead of the information about the body structure, it conveys a completely different meaning.

Considering that the word "Taur" is derived from the word "Centaur", it's worth studying the etymology of the latter. This word comes from the latin word "Centaurus", which in turn is a translation of the greek word "Kentauros". At the time when ancient greek culture did not yet know anything about horseback riding, contact with skilled riders from northern cultures gave rise to fantasies about the humans merged with a body of a horse. One of these fantasies has been reflected in the legend of the horse archers who managed to exterminate a herd of bulls that threatened a certain kingdom. Through their deed, these people became known as centaurs. The greek word "Kentauros" is composed of two parts - "Ken" the root meaning "to pierce", and "Tauros" the word meaning "Bull". Therefore, the greek word "Kentauros" and its latin version "Centaurus" can be translated as "Impaler of bulls" or "Slayer of bulls".

In order to better understand of the true meaning of the word "Taur", it's worth studying an additional example. Ancient greek mythology has described an another well-known creature - the Minotaur. This word is a proper name and is derived from the greek word "Minotauros". It's composed of two parts - "Minos" which is the name of the king who owned the creature, and "Tauros" the word meaning "Bull". Therefore, the word "Minotaur" can be translated as "The bull of Minos".

Based on this, the word "taur" cannot mean anything else other than "bull", and such compound nouns as "cervinetaur", "felinetaur" and "caninetaur" will mean "cervinebull", "felinebull" and "caninebull" respectively. Thus, in view of its inapplicability to denote a creature's body structure, the word "taur" should be discarded and replaced with a new definition. Considering that the body of any centaur-like creature is structurally the merge of different bodies, one can derive two definitions from the word "merge" - "beastmerged creature" and "mergid".

Beastmerged creature is a two-torso creature whose body is merged from the bodies of two creatures at the place of the waist of the base body and the withers of the target body. Due to the merge, the creature lacks the legs of the base body, as well as the neck and head of the target body.
Mergid is a generalized definition for any two-torso creature whose body is merged from the bodies of two creatures at the waist of one body and the withers of another one.

In the "beastmerged creature" definition, each word plays its own specific role. The adjective "beastmerged" denotes the target body at the withers with which the base body is merged, and which serves mainly for movement. At the same time, the noun "creature" denotes the base body which is merged with the target body at the place of own waist, and which performs the mental activity and most of the interaction.

It's worth noting that the "mergid" definition can be used either alone to denote all creatures with the aforementioned body structure, or with an additional word to clarify the target body of the creature without mentioning the base one. For example, the phrase "horse mergid" will denote any creature that has a typical horse target body, regardless of the base body.

In addition to this, adjectives and nouns can be adapted in order to clarify the base body, target body, gender and age of the mergid. The following examples describe the different types of mergids.
Horsemerged man - a creature whose body is the merge of a human man base body and a typical horse target body. Commonly known as a male centaur.
Horsemerged woman - a creature whose body is the merge of a human woman base body and a typical horse target body. Commonly known as a female centaur.
Felinemerged felineman - a creature whose body is the merge of a felineman base body and a typical feline target body.
Lionmerged lionwoman - a creature whose body is the merge of a lionwoman base body and a typical lion target body.
Horse mergid - a creature whose body is the merge of any base body and a typical horse target body.
Feline mergid - a creature whose body is the merge of any base body and a typical feline target body.

It's important to note that in order to avoid duplication of meanings and due to the fact that it's exactly the base body that performs the most important functions of the creature, gender and age should be indicated just once and only in the base body. Based on this, phrases such as "Lionessmerged lionwoman", "Stallionmerged man" and "Stallionmerged human" are not correct.