The Hermit Kingdom had Americans reaching for dictionaries after North Korean state media this week released a dispatch from the country's leader containing a string of threats and a curious word for U.S. President Donald Trump: dotard.

"I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire," Kim Jong Un said.

The original Korean statement, according to a South Korean freelance journalist, said "늙다리 미치광이" – meaning "old beast lunatic" before translation to "dotard." Entering that Korean phrase into Google Translate, meanwhile, elicits an interpretation of "an old man lunatic," and The Associated Press said "dotard" is "a translation of a Korean word, 'neukdari,' which is a derogatory reference to an old person."

Merriam-Webster Dictionary was quick to step in to provide an English definition of "dotard" for the curious: "a person in his or her dotage." "Dotage," for its part, is "a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness."

📈 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

"Dotard", Merriam-Webster also noted, comes from the Middle English word "doten" – meaning "to dote" – and initially meant "imbecile" when people began using it in the 14th century.

Trump additionally has coined the nickname "Rocket Man" for Kim, while North Korea's foreign minister countered this week by likening Trump's words to the "sound of a dog barking."

The most recent exchange definitely got people talking on social media. And former AP reporter Jean H. Lee, who opened the news organization's bureau in Pyongyang in 2012, provided some additional insight online: People working for the North Korean state news agency are "using very old Korean-English dictionaries," she said.

