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Why did Donald Watson create the term vegan in 1944?

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Illustration of a vegan food pyramid divided into four sections: whole grains at the base, followed by vegetables, then fruit, and legumes at the top, with recommended daily servings and images of representative foods in each group. — vegetarianism A vegan food pyramid, which excludes meat and animal products.

In 1944, British animal rights advocate Donald Watson proposed the term vegan—a contraction of vegetarian—to distinguish a specific movement from general vegetarianism.12

Watson and other vegetarians who abstained from dairy products formed the Vegan Society that same year. They sought to establish a movement dedicated to ending the exploitation of living creatures for human consumption and use, including hunting and medical experimentation. Beyond diet, the movement aimed to identify and promote non-animal alternatives for clothing and other human needs.2

This shift reflected a commitment to the ethical principle that humans do not have the right to exploit or inflict suffering on animals, a stance rooted in the belief that such exploitation is fundamentally unethical.2