writing on the wall

English

WOTD – 29 December 2016

Etymology

Rembrandt’s 1635 painting Het feestmaal van Belsazar (Belshazzar’s Feast), collection of the National Gallery, London, UK

From the Biblical story in Daniel 5, where, during a feast held by King Belshazzar, a hand suddenly appears and writes on a wall the following Aramaic words: מְנֵא מְנֵא תְּקֵל וּפַרְסִין (mənē mənē təqēl ūp̄arsīn, “numbered, numbered, weighed, and they are divided”) (Daniel 5:25). Daniel interprets the words as pointing to the downfall of the Babylonian Empire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɒn ðə ˈwɔːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ ɑn ðə ˈwɔl/, [ˈɹaɪ̯ɾɪŋ]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: writ‧ing on the wall

Noun

writing on the wall (countable and uncountable, plural writings on the wall or writings on walls)

1. (idiomatic) An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck.

   He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.

   • 1965, Noël Coward, “Note on ‘The Sixties’”, in The Lyrics, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 361:

     However, regardless of evil portents, prophetic despair and a great deal too much writing on the wall, I have managed so far to write two fairly cheerful musical comedies.

   • 2011, M. P. Prabhakaran, “Goa was Not a Settler Colony as Falkland is”, in Letters on India The New York Times Did Not Publish, Pittsburgh, Pa.: RoseDog Books, →ISBN, page 43:

     The Portuguese refused to read the writings on the wall and clung to their colonies, including the one in India.

   • 2012, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, “Global Rebalancing: Crisis and the East-South Turn”, in Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Jongtae Kim, editors, Globalization and Development in East Asia (Routledge Studies in Emerging Societies; 2), New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 36:

     Without a doubt these trends represent the "next big thing". Consider a sampling of recent headlines as writings on the wall: […]

   • 2014, Daniel Carnahan, The Manipulator, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 594:

     Don't you see the implications and writings on the wall for our family's future?

   • 2014 September 15, Rhonda Cook, “Regulator may push for state-mandated Taser training”, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 October 2016:

     It gets to the point to where you see so much writing on the wall where we may not have a choice but to step in and say 'yes, you will train every year and you'll report that training to POST' in order for things to be done right.

   • 2022 February 23, Benedict le Vay, “Part of rail's past... present... and future”, in RAIL, number 951, pages 53–54:

     As a railwayman put it to me: "When I saw chums of mine took their families down there by car, I could see the writing on the wall. We all had free passes, yet they got the car out!"

Usage notes

As an uncountable noun, the phrase alludes to a vague set of ominous indications. As a countable noun, the singular refers to a specific warning.

Alternative forms

• handwriting on the wall

Translations

ominous warning

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 厄运的征兆

• Danish: skriften på væggen c
• Finnish: vaaran merkit pl
• German: Menetekel (de) n
• Italian: pronostico (it) m, presagio (it) m, premonizione (it) f, predizione (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mene tekel n, skriften på veggen m

  Nynorsk: mene tekel n, skrifta på veggen f

• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• the writing is on the wall
• The writing on the wall on Wikipedia.Wikipedia