diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6ef0edc2bb..71d94ad8c9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ ifneq ($(GENERATE_LOCALE),)
 target-generatelocales: host-localedef
 	$(Q)mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib/locale/
 	$(Q)for locale in $(GENERATE_LOCALE) ; do \
-		inputfile=`echo $${locale} | cut -f1 -d'.' -s` ; \
+		inputfile=`echo $${locale} | cut -f1 -d'.'` ; \
 		charmap=`echo $${locale} | cut -f2 -d'.' -s` ; \
 		if test -z "$${charmap}" ; then \
 			charmap="UTF-8" ; \