diff --git a/src/shell_manager.cc b/src/shell_manager.cc
index 6181ab63..56fbfe38 100644
--- a/src/shell_manager.cc
+++ b/src/shell_manager.cc
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <cstdlib>
 
+#if defined(__CYGWIN__)
+#define vfork fork
+#endif
+
 extern char **environ;
 
 namespace Kakoune