diff --git a/package/fbterm/fbterm.mk b/package/fbterm/fbterm.mk
index 7e9d32441c..d78d6b75af 100644
--- a/package/fbterm/fbterm.mk
+++ b/package/fbterm/fbterm.mk
@@ -10,4 +10,10 @@ FBTERM_LICENSE = GPLv2+
 FBTERM_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 FBTERM_DEPENDENCIES = fontconfig liberation
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_STATIC_LIBS)$(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS),yy)
+# fontconfig uses pthreads if available, but fbterm forgets to link
+# with it breaking static builds
+FBTERM_CONF_ENV += LIBS='-lpthread'
+endif
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))