What's a dotard? Twitter goes wild after Kim Jong Un's vocab Trump burn

Charles Ventura | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Dotard: Kim Jong Un claps back at Trump's 'Rocket Man' North Korea's leader pulled a dictionary word out of the 14th century to insult President Trump.

Merriam-Webster found itself at a loss for words when President Trump famously tweeted "covfefe" earlier this year. But on Thursday, the online dictionary was up to task and redeemed itself when social media needed it the most.

In response to Trump's combative U.N. General Assembly speech against North Korea and his decision to ramp up economic pressure on the reclusive nation, Kim Jong Un called Trump a "mentally deranged dotard" who is “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country."

Shortly after Kim's statement, Twitter tossed the question to Merriam-Webster, asking for dotard's definition:

Who gets to read Trump the definition of "dotard" — Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) September 21, 2017

And the online dictionary quickly knocked it out of the park:

📈 Kim Jong Un calls Trump a mentally deranged U.S. dotard. Searches for 'dotard' are high as a kite. https://t.co/HztPoLSjXi — Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) September 21, 2017

"The word as used today commonly means 'a person in his or her dotage,'" Merriam-Webster said shortly after the word went viral, adding that dotage: "is a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness."

'Rocket Man', 'Crooked Hillary': See Trump's nicknames come to life In his U.N. speech, President Trump branded Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man", his latest nickname for an opponent. We asked our in-house design gurus to illustrate Trump’s controversial nicknames.

Dotard, Merriam-Webster said, comes from "the Middle English word doten (meaning 'to dote'), initially had the meaning of 'imbecile' when it began being used in the 14th century."

📈 The word meant "imbecile" when it was first used in the 14th century. https://t.co/jqrHao0R9i — Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) September 21, 2017

People were quick to thank Merriam-Webster, some with emotion:

Kim Jong-un calls Trump a #dotard. Had to look it up (thanks, @MerriamWebster!): "A person in a a state or period of senile decay..." https://t.co/UVT1Igc7ut — 🛡➖Dustin Miller ➖📎 (@spdustin) September 21, 2017

'Dotard' is a good one to pull out of the bag. Wish I learnt it doing a crossword instead of through being on the precipice of nuclear war. — edgarwright (@edgarwright) September 21, 2017

Looks up definition of "dotard." pic.twitter.com/kyf5j6J1DB — Cameron Ridle (@CameronRidle) September 21, 2017

North Korea: Trump's U.N. speech sounded like 'dog barking'

More: North Korean leader calls Trump 'mentally deranged'

Related: Trump says he will sign new executive order to pressure N. Korea