diff --git a/bgl.cc b/bgl.cc
index ea632044..0bd062e3 100644
--- a/bgl.cc
+++ b/bgl.cc
@@ -118,26 +118,6 @@ namespace
     return in;
   }
 
-  // Since the standard isspace() is locale-specific, we need something
-  // that would never mess up our utf8 input. The stock one worked fine under
-  // Linux but was messing up strings under Windows.
-  bool isspace_c( int c )
-  {
-    switch( c )
-    {
-      case ' ':
-      case '\f':
-      case '\n':
-      case '\r':
-      case '\t':
-      case '\v':
-        return true;
-
-      default:
-        return false;
-    }
-  }
-
   // Removes any leading or trailing whitespace
   void trimWs( string & word )
   {
@@ -145,7 +125,7 @@ namespace
     {
       unsigned begin = 0;
 
-      while( begin < word.size() && isspace_c( word[ begin ] ) )
+      while( begin < word.size() && Utf8::isspace( word[ begin ] ) )
         ++begin;
 
       if ( begin == word.size() ) // Consists of ws entirely?
@@ -156,7 +136,7 @@ namespace
 
         // Doesn't consist of ws entirely, so must end with just isspace()
         // condition.
-        while( isspace_c( word[ end - 1 ] ) )
+        while( Utf8::isspace( word[ end - 1 ] ) )
           --end;
 
         if ( end != word.size() || begin )
diff --git a/dictdfiles.cc b/dictdfiles.cc
index 93cb6083..cbd0a683 100644
--- a/dictdfiles.cc
+++ b/dictdfiles.cc
@@ -664,7 +664,7 @@ vector< sptr< Dictionary::Class > > makeDictionaries(
                     char * eol = strchr( articleBody, '\n'  ); // skip the first line (headword itself)
                     if ( eol )
                     {
-                      while( *eol && isspace( *eol ) ) ++eol; // skip spaces
+                      while( *eol && Utf8::isspace( *eol ) ) ++eol; // skip spaces
 
                       // use only the single line for the dictionary title
                       char * endEol = strchr( eol, '\n' );
diff --git a/filetype.cc b/filetype.cc
index e3b8975b..9eaad6f6 100644
--- a/filetype.cc
+++ b/filetype.cc
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
  * Part of GoldenDict. Licensed under GPLv3 or later, see the LICENSE file */
 
 #include "filetype.hh"
+#include "utf8.hh"
 #include <ctype.h>
 
 namespace Filetype {
@@ -18,12 +19,12 @@ string simplifyString( string const & str )
 
   size_t beginPos = 0;
 
-  while( beginPos < str.size() && isspace( str[ beginPos ] ) )
+  while( beginPos < str.size() && Utf8::isspace( str[ beginPos ] ) )
     ++beginPos;
 
   size_t endPos = str.size();
 
-  while( endPos && isspace( str[ endPos - 1 ] ) )
+  while( endPos && Utf8::isspace( str[ endPos - 1 ] ) )
     --endPos;
 
   result.reserve( endPos - beginPos );
diff --git a/utf8.cc b/utf8.cc
index 9d8e66dc..02db0926 100644
--- a/utf8.cc
+++ b/utf8.cc
@@ -155,4 +155,21 @@ wstring decode( string const & in ) throw( exCantDecode )
   return wstring( &buffer.front(), result );
 }
 
+bool isspace( int c )
+{
+  switch( c )
+  {
+    case ' ':
+    case '\f':
+    case '\n':
+    case '\r':
+    case '\t':
+    case '\v':
+      return true;
+
+    default:
+      return false;
+  }
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/utf8.hh b/utf8.hh
index 723884d7..a48d9c6d 100644
--- a/utf8.hh
+++ b/utf8.hh
@@ -34,4 +34,9 @@ long decode( char const * in, size_t inSize, wchar * out );
 string encode( wstring const & ) throw();
 wstring decode( string const & ) throw( exCantDecode );
 
+/// Since the standard isspace() is locale-specific, we need something
+/// that would never mess up our utf8 input. The stock one worked fine under
+/// Linux but was messing up strings under Windows.
+bool isspace( int c );
+
 }