doppelgänger

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 30, 2025 is doppelgänger. A doppelgänger is defined as someone who looks very much like another person. In literary contexts, it can also refer to a ghost that closely resembles a living person. An example illustrates seeing someone who looked exactly like a friend, prompting a near greeting. Another example shows a character being haunted by a doppelgänger, highlighting its creepier connotations. The word originates from German folklore, where every living creature is believed to have an identical, invisible spirit double. These spirit doubles, or second selves, are distinct from ghosts, appearing only after death. They are sometimes described as the spiritual opposite or negative of their living counterparts. English adopted both the concept and the German word, which combines "double" and "goer," in the mid-1800s. Today, the English usage most commonly refers to a living person who closely resembles another living person.