diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/xterm/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/xterm/default.nix
index b4fab591ef4..ef2d846dd2e 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/xterm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/xterm/default.nix
@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, xorg, ncurses, freetype, pkgconfig }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, xorg, ncurses, freetype, fontconfig, pkgconfig }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  name = "xterm-276";
-  
+  name = "xterm-281";
+
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "ftp://invisible-island.net/xterm/${name}.tgz";
-    sha256 = "1k3k025z3vl91sc8i7f5lmnsb1rsblpbijri9vnxgpynw4wgrc7b";
+    sha256 = "1yrjjya7z5s3fi0iiaxgna35jh0ib2zx1yafyng35jma6qbwhxx7";
   };
-  
+
   buildInputs =
     [ xorg.libXaw xorg.xproto xorg.libXt xorg.libXext xorg.libX11 xorg.libSM xorg.libICE
-      ncurses freetype pkgconfig xorg.libXft xorg.luit
+      ncurses freetype fontconfig pkgconfig xorg.libXft xorg.luit
     ];
-    
+
   configureFlags =
     ''
       --enable-wide-chars --enable-256-color
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     '';
 
   # Work around broken "plink.sh".
-  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lXmu -lXt -lICE -lX11";
+  NIX_LDFLAGS = "-lXmu -lXt -lICE -lX11 -lfontconfig";
 
   # Hack to get xterm built with the feature of releasing a possible setgid of 'utmp',
   # decided by the sysadmin to allow the xterm reporting to /var/run/utmp