It's kind of a catchall term for all sorts of supernatural beings. And I have to explain it every single time because apparently there's more nuance to it than the thingy can handle.

[Basically monsters, except pretty much guaranteed intelligent. By a very loose definition of "intelligent", if one includes fairies, but they're numerous enough that they tend to just be called that.]

Still, I think all of us can agree that it would be better not to kill each other in the name of science.