diff --git a/core/combo/TARGET_linux-x86.mk b/core/combo/TARGET_linux-x86.mk
index a4d07b51dc..cb251d388d 100644
--- a/core/combo/TARGET_linux-x86.mk
+++ b/core/combo/TARGET_linux-x86.mk
@@ -132,6 +132,11 @@ TARGET_GLOBAL_CFLAGS += -mbionic
 #
 TARGET_GLOBAL_CFLAGS += -D__ANDROID__
 
+# instructions "movbe" is only available in Intel atom.  Disable it
+# for general x86 device and x86 host which runs emulator-x86
+#
+TARGET_GLOBAL_CFLAGS += -mno-movbe
+
 # XXX: This flag is probably redundant since our toolchain binaries already
 # generate 32-bit machine code. It probably dates back to the old days
 # where we were using the host toolchain on Linux to build the platform