"Pariah"

When:

Lookups spiked on October 21, 2011.

Why:

Many obituaries for Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi used pariah to describe both the dictator himself and the terror-sponsoring state of Libya under his rule.

Pariah means "one that is despised or rejected" or "outcast"

It comes from the word for "drummer" in a language of southern India, and referred to a group of people who worked as servants and ceremonial drummers and were viewed as social outcasts.

Photo: Stefan Kloo / flickr