diff --git a/utf8.c b/utf8.c
index 7ddff23fa7..ab326ac83e 100644
--- a/utf8.c
+++ b/utf8.c
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ static int git_wcwidth(ucs_char_t ch)
  * If the string was not a valid UTF-8, *start pointer is set to NULL
  * and the return value is undefined.
  */
-ucs_char_t pick_one_utf8_char(const char **start, size_t *remainder_p)
+static ucs_char_t pick_one_utf8_char(const char **start, size_t *remainder_p)
 {
 	unsigned char *s = (unsigned char *)*start;
 	ucs_char_t ch;
diff --git a/utf8.h b/utf8.h
index ae30ae4c6e..c9738d83d9 100644
--- a/utf8.h
+++ b/utf8.h
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 
 typedef unsigned int ucs_char_t;  /* assuming 32bit int */
 
-ucs_char_t pick_one_utf8_char(const char **start, size_t *remainder_p);
 int utf8_width(const char **start, size_t *remainder_p);
 int utf8_strwidth(const char *string);
 int is_utf8(const char *text);