“Despite the constant negative press covfefe,” the tweet read. That was it. It ended abruptly, as if someone stopped him, or he stopped himself, or perhaps he never meant to send it.

No, “covfefe” isn’t a typo, at least, not on the part of The Washington Post.

Within six hours, it had been retweeted more than 127,000 times and “liked” more than 162,000 times — making it one of his most popular tweets in months. By then it had become a massive Internet joke.

By 5:48 a.m. EST, the tweet had been deleted. (The Washington Post saved an image of it earlier in the night.)



Twenty minutes later, a new tweet replaced it:



But by then the “word” covfefe had been trending all night. One company even appeared to have made a shirt with that odd combination of letters written across the front in bold, block letters.

“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my #covfefe,” wrote one user.

“What’s even the point of CNN if they’re not going commercial-free with #covfefe coverage?” inquired another.

“The next time I go to Starbucks I’m gonna order a grande #covfefe,” wrote one thirsty user.

The word “covfefe” does not appear in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. When searching for it on the company’s website, the dictionary suggests “coffee,” “coven,” “cover,” “covet,” “covey” and “cuvee.”

Clearly, it isn’t an English word. Some tweets employing “covfefe” offer the option to translate it from Norwegian, though that appears to be a glitch of some sort. “Covfefe” does not appear to be a Norwegian word, either.

Desperate for a definition, some Twitter users came up with a few, such as coffee or a synonym to “The Lion King’s” “Hakuna Matata.” (“It means no worries, for the rest of your days.” Some would say it’s a “problem-free philosophy.”)

Others suggested it might make a great band, or perhaps human, name.

More about: #covfefe