Paamayim Nekudotayim (pronounced [paʔamajim nəkudotajim]) is the official name for the Scope Resolution Operator (::) in PHP. It means “twice colon” or “double colon” in Hebrew.
Nekudotayim (נקודתיים) means ‘colon’; it comes from nekuda (IPA: [nəkuda]), ‘point’ or ‘dot‘, and the dual suffix ayim (יים-), hence ‘two points’. Similarly, the word paamayim (פעמיים) is derived by attaching the dual suffix to paam (IPA: [paʔam]) (‘one time’ or ‘once’), thus yielding ‘twice’.
The name was introduced in the Israeli-developed[1] Zend Engine 0.5 used in PHP 3. Although it has been confusing to many developers, it is still being used in PHP 5, as in this sample error message:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM in file on line line
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