Word of the Day

: October 31, 2021

doppelgänger

noun DAH-pul-gang-er

What It Means

A doppelgänger is a person who resembles someone else, or a ghostly counterpart of a living person.

// The plot of the story thickens when the main character's doppelgänger turns out to be a wanted criminal.

// In the movie, the child interacts with a ghostly doppelgänger.

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doppelgänger in Context

"A paranormal investigation group … visited the historic opera house…. During the visit, the group claimed to have seen the spirit of Sorg sitting in the balcony, … captured audio of ghosts speaking and singing and photographed a doppelganger." — Lisa Powell, The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, 14 Oct. 2021

Did You Know?

According to German folklore, all living creatures have a spirit double who is invisible but identical to the living individual. These second selves are perceived as being distinct from ghosts (which appear only after death), and sometimes they are described as the spiritual opposite or negative of their human counterparts. German writers coined the word Doppelgänger (from doppel-, meaning "double," and -gänger, meaning "goer") to refer to such specters.