diff --git a/src/backend/tsearch/wparser_def.c b/src/backend/tsearch/wparser_def.c
index cfd07fd4bf3..6f117bdf648 100644
--- a/src/backend/tsearch/wparser_def.c
+++ b/src/backend/tsearch/wparser_def.c
@@ -2439,6 +2439,8 @@ mark_hl_words(HeadlineParsedText *prs, TSQuery query, int highlight,
 			}
 			else
 			{					/* shorter cover :((( */
+				if (i > q)
+					i = q;
 				for (; curlen > min_words; i--)
 				{
 					if (!NONWORDTOKEN(prs->words[i].type))