diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/gnugrep/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/gnugrep/default.nix
index e73458d0aba..d03db13ed42 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/gnugrep/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/gnugrep/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   buildInputs = [ pcre libiconv ];
 
-  doCheck = !stdenv.isDarwin;
+  # cygwin: FAIL: multibyte-white-space
+  doCheck = !stdenv.isDarwin && !stdenv.isCygwin;
 
   # On Mac OS X, force use of mkdir -p, since Grep's fallback
   # (./install-sh) is broken.