Etymologically
Log in

doppelganger

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 04:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdɒp(ə)lˌɡɛŋə/ (UK); /ˈdɑp(ə)lˌɡɛŋəɹ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Doppelgänger,[2][3][4][5] literally “double-goer”,[4][5] from doppel- “double” and -gänger “goer”,[2][3][4] from Gang “a going”.[2] It is sometimes half-translated as doubleganger.[4][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The apparition or ghostly double of a living person.[4][6][3] Etymonline dates it to 1826 (as a German word from 1824), the OED and Merriam-Webster to 1851.[4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word originally had a ghostly sense,[4] and dictionaries still define it as a spectral double that haunts its living counterpart.[2][1] It has since been weakened to a person who closely resembles another, an alter ego, or even someone with the same name.[3][1]

Timeline

  • 1824 – as a German word in English.[4]
  • 1826 – an apparition of a living person.[4]
  • 1851 – a ghostly double.[6][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its counterpart.
  2. Someone who looks remarkably like another person; a double.
  3. An alter ego, or a person with the same name as another.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press