Words have this way of lasting forever. They become engraved indelibly on the public record. They enter what is called the “public domain.”

So it is with “sh**hole,” a term Donald J. Trump allegedly blurted out during a private White House meeting to describe African nations along with Haiti and El Salvador in our hemisphere.

Oh, but who comes a callin’ on the White House today? The president of one of those “sh**hole” countries, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

I’ll give President Buhari a measure of credit for declining to answer directly whether the issue of “sh**hole” came up during private meetings with the U.S. president.

Buhari told reporters he didn’t bring it up with the president. “I’m not sure about, you know, the validity of whether that allegation against the president is true or not,” Buhari said to reporters in Trump’s presence. “So the best thing for me is to keep quiet.”

Well, I happen to believe the president said it. So do other Americans who (a) heard him say it or (b) know those who were in the room and heard him say it.

Trump said today he would like to visit Nigeria, of which he said: “And in certain ways, I hear, from the standpoint of the beauty of a country, there’s no country more beautiful.”

Even for a “sh**hole,” Mr. President?