Doppelgänger: One of My Favorite Words

I recently came across the word “doppelgänger” while reading the book Dark Matter, a science fiction book by Blake Crouch. Doppelgänger is such a fun-sounding word that it felt a bit out of place in such a serious part of the story. However, the main character in this book, Jason Dessen, has to fight not just one, but numerous evil doppelgängers from other dimensions who want to take over his identity.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word doppelgänger means “someone who looks like someone else.”  It can also mean “alter ego” or “a person who has the same name as another.” The word Doppelgänger originated from the German words “doppel” and “gänger” which mean “double” and “goer.” The word has been around since the 1850s. Its first known use was in 1851.