diff --git a/st.c b/st.c
index e50e884..031272f 100644
--- a/st.c
+++ b/st.c
@@ -3373,16 +3373,32 @@ xgeommasktogravity(int mask)
 int
 xloadfont(Font *f, FcPattern *pattern)
 {
+	FcPattern *configured;
 	FcPattern *match;
 	FcResult result;
 	XGlyphInfo extents;
 	int wantattr, haveattr;
 
-	match = XftFontMatch(xw.dpy, xw.scr, pattern, &result);
-	if (!match)
+	/*
+	 * Manually configure instead of calling XftMatchFont
+	 * so that we can use the configured pattern for
+	 * "missing glyph" lookups.
+	 */
+	configured = FcPatternDuplicate(pattern);
+	if (!configured)
 		return 1;
 
+	FcConfigSubstitute(NULL, configured, FcMatchPattern);
+	XftDefaultSubstitute(xw.dpy, xw.scr, configured);
+
+	match = FcFontMatch(NULL, configured, &result);
+	if (!match) {
+		FcPatternDestroy(configured);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
 	if (!(f->match = XftFontOpenPattern(xw.dpy, match))) {
+		FcPatternDestroy(configured);
 		FcPatternDestroy(match);
 		return 1;
 	}
@@ -3414,7 +3430,7 @@ xloadfont(Font *f, FcPattern *pattern)
 		strlen(ascii_printable), &extents);
 
 	f->set = NULL;
-	f->pattern = FcPatternDuplicate(pattern);
+	f->pattern = configured;
 
 	f->ascent = f->match->ascent;
 	f->descent = f->match->descent;