diff --git a/src/term.c b/src/term.c
index 4164a3bc0d3..23da2ac8704 100644
--- a/src/term.c
+++ b/src/term.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* Terminal control module for terminals described by TERMCAP
-   Copyright (C) 1985, 86, 87, 93, 94, 95, 98, 2000, 2001, 2002
+   Copyright (C) 1985, 86, 87, 93, 94, 95, 98, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005
    Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@ encode_terminal_code (src, src_len, coding)
 		  if (! STRING_MULTIBYTE (string))
 		    string = string_to_multibyte (string);
 		  nbytes = buf - encode_terminal_buf;
-		  if (nbytes + SBYTES (string) < encode_terminal_bufsize)
+		  if (encode_terminal_bufsize < nbytes + SBYTES (string))
 		    {
 		      encode_terminal_bufsize = nbytes + SBYTES (string);
 		      encode_terminal_buf = xrealloc (encode_terminal_buf,