Germany names its 'ugliest' word of the year: 'People's traitor'

A demonstrator holds a sign calling German Chancellor Angela Merkel a traitor of the people

Germany's ugliest word of the year is "traitor of the people" - or Volksverraeter, a panel has decided. 

The word is seen by many as having Nazi overtones and has been used recently by right-wing groups.


The decision was taken as part of the Unwort des Jahres contest, which literally means "unword of the year".  The competition is held every year to pick a topical word that is deemed discriminatory, inflammatory or anti-democratic.

In recent times, members of Germany's anti-Islam movement Pegida and the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) have taken to using Volksverraeter as an insult.

The panel - four linguists and a journalist - called it "a relic of dictatorship". The competition was established in 1991 under the state-sponsored Society for German Language, but it became independently run four years later.