The meaning of President Trump's viral "cofveve" tweet was apparent to "a small group of people," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Wednesday, setting off a brief tumult from the assembled press.

Trump's midnight tweet Wednesday that read "Despite the constant negative press covfefe," went viral and became the subject of much derision and speculation as to what exactly that word meant.

The tweet wasn't deleted until early Wednesday morning. During a short press briefing on Wednesday, Spicer took a question on the matter.

"Do you think people should be concerned that the president posted somewhat of an incoherent tweet last night, and that it then stayed up for hours?" a reporter asked.

"Uh, no," Spicer said.

"Why did it stay up so long? Is no one watching this?" the reporter asked.

"No, I think the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant," Spicer said.

There was an outbreak of crosstalk at that response; one reporter could be heard repeatedly asking, "What is covfefe?"

We may never know.

Trump himself seemed to joke about the incident in a later tweet on Wednesday.