diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 82323f5..43f342e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -15690,7 +15690,9 @@
 
 # first curses header check
 ac_save_cppflags="$CPPFLAGS"
-CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I/usr/include/ncursesw"
+if test "$cross_compiling" = no; then
+  CPPFLAGS="$CPPFLAGS -I/usr/include/ncursesw"
+fi
 
 for ac_header in curses.h ncurses.h
 do :