Likeness

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Likeness refers to sharing mannerisms, traits, or behaviours with something on an intrinsic or integral level, without necessarily identifying with or as that something.

Sharing a likeness with something may feel spiritual, as a part of one's inner soul, it may be a psychological analysis of one's behaviour, or an instinctual feeling.

Liken may refer to what a likeness is shared with, and the suffixes -like and -liken may be used to specify it. For example, sharing a likeness with wolves may be described as being wolflike or wolfliken. Someone who shares a likeness with dragons may refer to dragons as their liken.

Having a likeness may overall be referred to as being otherlike / otherliken, or ostalike / ostaliken, which may be shorten to simply liken.

History
In their coining post, extranth describes some of their personal experiences of likeness: "Some things i’ve experienced:
 * I feel very symbolically tied to what I share a likeness with. I feel like it could represent me.
 * I feel instincts and urges tied to what I share a likeness with.
 * I feel as though I understand what I share a likeness with much better than most people.
 * I would enjoy having physical qualities of what I share a likeness with, though not necessarily fully. For instance, I don’t typically see myself as, or necessarily want to be, a wolf, but I would greatly enjoy having wolflike characteristics, such as their teeth, claws, and eyes. This is very subjective and other people could experience it much differently.
 * I feel as though, on some level, I could be categorized in a similar place to where what I share a likeness with is. This could be spiritual (similar souls), psychological (similar thinking), genetic (similar species), etc…"

For ostalike, “osta” comes from “ostalo,” which means “other” in Bosnian.

Related Terms
Kin, therian, hearted, and similar concepts may overlap or describe similar experiences.

Groups of headmates with the same liken may organize themselves similar to their liken (for example, wolflike groups may adopt a pack-like structure, baboonlike groups may follow dominance hierarchies, and a leopardlike member may keep to themself).