diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 7ccd9613932b4e25f2910c3195a6a587c61a613c..563ba33269e83f3f970285329536343b70f5dfc0 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ CVS code -
 	  nanogetstr() (renamed get_prompt_string()), statusq() (renamed
 	  do_prompt()), statusq_abort() (renamed do_prompt_abort()), and
 	  do_yesno() (renamed do_yesno_prompt()). (DLR)
+- chars.c:
+  mbwidth()
+	- If wcwidth() returns -1 for the character passed in, treat the
+	  character as being one column wide instead of zero columns
+	  wide, since there are display problems that crop up with the
+	  latter approach. (DLR)
 - files.c:
   read_file()
 	- Remove apparently unneeded logic to handle a case where
diff --git a/src/chars.c b/src/chars.c
index ee1b42c2ea4bcfaf0bb26e31ee1a8653a3daaa6d..c48e3484bd8117fba2842a4d373c513e0560adec 100644
--- a/src/chars.c
+++ b/src/chars.c
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ int mbwidth(const char *c)
 	width = wcwidth(wc);
 
 	if (width == -1)
-	    width++;
+	    width = 1;
 
 	return width;
     } else