diff --git a/libkern/string.c b/libkern/string.c
index d5b1d099..7d2e7de2 100644
--- a/libkern/string.c
+++ b/libkern/string.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ int strcmp(const char *s1, const char *s2)
 #ifndef HAVE_ARCH_STRNCMP
 int strncmp(const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t n)
 {
-	if (n == 0)
+	if (BUILTIN_EXPECT(n == 0, 0))
 		return 0;
 
 	while (n-- != 0 && *s1 == *s2) {