mene mene tekel upharsin
/ˈmɛneɪ ˈmɛneɪ ˈtɛkl juːˈfɑːsɪn/ /ˈmiːni ˈmiːni ˈtɛkl juːˈfɑːsɪn/noun
The words written by a bodiless hand on the wall at Belshazzar's feast (as recounted in the biblical Book of Daniel).
- Daniel's interpretation of the words is recounted in Daniel 5:26–8; the word tekel is rendered in English in the King James Bible as ‘thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting’, and this is sometimes taken as the meaning of the whole phrase..
Origin
Late 17th century (in an earlier sense). From Aramaic mĕnē mĕnē tĕqēl ūp̲arsīn (Daniel 5:25) from mĕnē numbered, mina + tĕqēl weighed, shekel + ū- and + parsīn, plural of pĕrēs divided, Persia, half-mina, half-shekel. The phrase is an elaborate piece of wordplay, relying on the fact that each word can also denote a different coin, and the third word can also be interpreted as ‘Persia’.