diff --git a/scripts/build/companion_libs/220-ncurses.sh b/scripts/build/companion_libs/220-ncurses.sh
index f1fcd1a1..c8c083ee 100644
--- a/scripts/build/companion_libs/220-ncurses.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/companion_libs/220-ncurses.sh
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ do_ncurses_backend() {
         esac
     done
 
+    ncurses_opts+=("--disable-widec")
+
     if [ "${CT_NCURSES_NEW_ABI}" != "y" ]; then
         ncurses_opts+=("--with-abi-version=5")
     fi