diff --git a/pkgs/applications/terminal-emulators/rxvt-unicode/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/terminal-emulators/rxvt-unicode/default.nix
index 02f1b100f49f..2c130bf02d3e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/terminal-emulators/rxvt-unicode/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/terminal-emulators/rxvt-unicode/default.nix
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
 
   configureFlags = [
-    "--with-terminfo=$terminfo/share/terminfo"
+    "--with-terminfo=${placeholder "terminfo"}/share/terminfo"
     "--enable-256-color"
     (enableFeature perlSupport "perl")
     (enableFeature unicode3Support "unicode3")