diff --git a/include/cutils/jstring.h b/include/cutils/jstring.h
index ee0018fcc..a3426081a 100644
--- a/include/cutils/jstring.h
+++ b/include/cutils/jstring.h
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-typedef uint16_t char16_t;
+#if __STDC_VERSION__ < 201112L && __cplusplus < 201103L
+  typedef uint16_t char16_t;
+#endif
+  // otherwise char16_t is a keyword with the right semantics
 
 extern char * strndup16to8 (const char16_t* s, size_t n);
 extern size_t strnlen16to8 (const char16_t* s, size_t n);