diff --git a/src/move.c b/src/move.c
index 22c37ce..94dc7dc 100644
--- a/src/move.c
+++ b/src/move.c
@@ -1557,6 +1557,25 @@
 }
 
 /*
+ * Convert a virtual (screen) column to a character column.  The first column
+ * is one.  For a multibyte character, the column number of the first byte is
+ * returned.
+ */
+    static int
+virtcol2col(win_T *wp, linenr_T lnum, int vcol)
+{
+    int		offset = vcol2col(wp, lnum, vcol);
+    char_u	*line = ml_get_buf(wp->w_buffer, lnum, FALSE);
+    char_u	*p = line + offset;
+
+    // For a multibyte character, need to return the column number of the first
+    // byte.
+    MB_PTR_BACK(line, p);
+
+    return (int)(p - line + 1);
+}
+
+/*
  * "virtcol2col({winid}, {lnum}, {col})" function
  */
     void
@@ -1586,7 +1605,7 @@
     if (error || screencol < 0)
 	return;
 
-    rettv->vval.v_number = vcol2col(wp, lnum, screencol);
+    rettv->vval.v_number = virtcol2col(wp, lnum, screencol);
 }
 #endif