diff --git a/src/editor/editwidget.c b/src/editor/editwidget.c
index c8c372b7b..6d34b54d7 100644
--- a/src/editor/editwidget.c
+++ b/src/editor/editwidget.c
@@ -516,12 +516,12 @@ edit_translate_key (WEdit * edit, long x_key, int *cmd, int *ch)
 #else
         int c;
 
-        if (edit->charpoint >= 4)
+        if (edit->charpoint >= MB_LEN_MAX)
         {
             edit->charpoint = 0;
             edit->charbuf[edit->charpoint] = '\0';
         }
-        if (edit->charpoint < 4)
+        if (edit->charpoint < MB_LEN_MAX)
         {
             edit->charbuf[edit->charpoint++] = x_key;
             edit->charbuf[edit->charpoint] = '\0';
diff --git a/src/editor/editwidget.h b/src/editor/editwidget.h
index 446ef07ac..da0fb508f 100644
--- a/src/editor/editwidget.h
+++ b/src/editor/editwidget.h
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 #ifndef MC__EDIT_WIDGET_H
 #define MC__EDIT_WIDGET_H
 
+#include <limits.h>             /* MB_LEN_MAX */
+
 #include "lib/search.h"         /* mc_search_t */
 #include "lib/widget.h"         /* Widget */
 
@@ -80,7 +82,7 @@ struct WEdit
     /* multibyte support */
     gboolean utf8;              /* It's multibyte file codeset */
     GIConv converter;
-    char charbuf[4 + 1];
+    char charbuf[MB_LEN_MAX + 1];
     int charpoint;
 #endif