diff --git a/lib/unistd.in.h b/lib/unistd.in.h
index 13f4bb6cd1..beeb8e1d6f 100644
--- a/lib/unistd.in.h
+++ b/lib/unistd.in.h
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ _GL_WARN_ON_USE (dup3, "dup3 is unportable - "
 
 
 #if @GNULIB_ENVIRON@
-# if defined __CYGWIN__
+# if defined __CYGWIN__ && !defined __i386__
 /* The 'environ' variable is defined in a DLL. Therefore its declaration needs
    the '__declspec(dllimport)' attribute, but the system's <unistd.h> lacks it.
    This leads to a link error on 64-bit Cygwin when the option