An unlikely word is trending on Twitter on Friday morning: dotard.
The insult was a riposte from Kim Jong Un after US President Donald Trump nicknamed the North Korean leader "Rocket Man" at the UN General Assembly.
The unusual word left many people scratching their heads, and Google searches for dotard went through the roof.
—Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) September 21, 2017
So, what does it actually mean? The Twitter-savvy dictionary Merriam-Webster was quick to come to people's aid.
Merriam-Webster defines dotard as "a person in his or her dotage," with dotage meaning "a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness."
It stems from the Middle English word doten, which was used to describe an imbecile at the time of its introduction in the 14th century.
SEE ALSO: Here's why Kim Jong Un is always surrounded by people taking notes
The Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief, Anna Fifield, though, was quick to point out that the Korean definition of Kim's barb was "lunatic old man."
—Anna Fifield (@annafifield) September 21, 2017
According to Google's Ngram Viewer, which allows users to track the popularity of words through time, use of the word dotard peaked in English corpus in the early 18th century.
Obviously, this word is slightly dated — and some people were left perplexed:
—Cameron Ridle (@CameronRidle) September 21, 2017
—Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) September 22, 2017
Some people thought Kim came out on top of the exchange:
—Mark Congiusta (@interactivemark) September 21, 2017
—BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) September 22, 2017
Others just straight-up agreed with the North Korean leader:
—Simar (@sahluwal) September 22, 2017
—Edan Clay (@EdanClay) September 22, 2017
