doppel n.

a duplicate version of a person, as a clone, a virtual-reality representation, a shapeshifter, etc.

[shortened < doppelganger]

  • 1981 P. Preuss Re-Entry xvi. 87 page image Paul Preuss bibliography

    ‘I wonder if we were the only ones?’ Claymore brushed auburn hair from her hazel eyes. ‘That hardly matters, Clarissa.’ One might still compare the heart-shaped face of this Claymore Doppelgänger to that of the Mona Lisa—for on the Earth she’d just come from Leonardo had painted a woman with auburn hair. ‘You’re right,’ the Sirich Doppel said. ‘The only reality that concerns us is the one where we are.’ [Ibid. xxxv. 201] [...] came an even more astounding thought—that it wouldn’t make any difference [...] unless she were willing to shoulder the intolerable burden of returning again and again to adjust each human error. How many Doppels would she lose on each fix-it trip? How many universes would eventually benefit from her efforts?

  • 1987 F. Pohl Annals of Heechee i. 5 page image Frederik Pohl bibliography

    Cassata was not only a soldier, he was still meat. That was an interesting fact in itself, because meat people don’t make doppels of themselves lightly.

  • 1995 L. Rysdyk Holo-Man in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar. 144 page image Leonard Rysdyk bibliography

    I put my persona on automatic and…peeked out of the rig. There was my doppel on the monitor talking to the tourist.

  • 1998 I. McDonald Days of Solomon Gursky in Asimov’s June 120 page image Ian McDonald bibliography

    Later, on a stone bench by the lake, Sol Gursky said to his doppel, ‘Your politeness is appreciated, but it really wasn’t necessary for you to don my shape. All this is as much a construction as you are.’

  • 2007 A. A. Attanasio Telefunken Remix in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction May 131 page image A. A. Attanasio bibliography

    How much trust then could his doppel invest in the Contexture if the first thing he learned was that a Design flaw had shaped his life?

  • 2011 C. Miéville Embassytown 66 page image China Miéville bibliography

    On Arieka, for lifetimes, the last two megahours, our representatives hadn’t been twins but doppels, cloned. It was the only viable way. They were bred in twos in the Ambassador-farm, tweaked to accentuate certain psychological qualities. Blood twins had long been outlawed.

  • 2019 R. Larson Contagion’s Eve at House Noctambulous in Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1 (2020) 143 Rich Larson bibliography

    He was glad they had masks, especially as his doppel seemed to look right at him for a moment. He reminded himself that the doppels weren’t human. He knew that from his tutor. They were quick and shoddy copies, with blunted brains that couldn’t do much more than keep them breathing and moving.


Research requirements

antedating 1981

Research History
Suggested, and most cites submitted, by Ben Ostrowsky.

Last modified 2021-10-14 14:24:48
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.