The word vegan was originally derived from "vegetarian" in 1944 when Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson, frustrated that the term "vegetarianism" had come to include the eating of dairy products, founded the UK Vegan Society. They combined the first three and last two letters of vegetarian to form "vegan", which they saw as "the beginning and end of vegetarian".
Since the founding of the UK Vegan Society, the term vegan has come to encompass people who seek to eliminate animal products in all areas of their lives, as opposed to those who simply avoid eating animal products.