diff --git a/meshmode/discretization/__init__.py b/meshmode/discretization/__init__.py
index 6da392cae8b58022cf3efd72b3e710fd980b57f5..6ff44165a61c6f2574ffdd914fb474bf9de9731b 100644
--- a/meshmode/discretization/__init__.py
+++ b/meshmode/discretization/__init__.py
@@ -203,10 +203,10 @@ class Discretization(object):
             self.nnodes += ng.nnodes
 
         self.real_dtype = np.dtype(real_dtype)
-        self.complex_dtype = {
+        self.complex_dtype = np.dtype({
                 np.float32: np.complex64,
                 np.float64: np.complex128
-                }[self.real_dtype.type]
+                }[self.real_dtype.type])
 
     @property
     def dim(self):