diff --git a/nix-meson-build-support/default-system-cpu/meson.build b/nix-meson-build-support/default-system-cpu/meson.build
index 2221265f0..4a0e89e10 100644
--- a/nix-meson-build-support/default-system-cpu/meson.build
+++ b/nix-meson-build-support/default-system-cpu/meson.build
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 powerpc_system_cpus = [ 'ppc64', 'ppc' ]
 
-nix_system_cpu = {'ppc64' : 'powerpc64', 'ppc' : 'powerpc'}.get(
+nix_system_cpu = {'ppc64' : 'powerpc64', 'ppc' : 'powerpc', 'x86' : 'i686'}.get(
   host_machine.cpu_family(),
   host_machine.cpu_family(),
 )
diff --git a/tests/functional/misc.sh b/tests/functional/misc.sh
index cb4d4139f..b94a5fc57 100755
--- a/tests/functional/misc.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/misc.sh
@@ -44,3 +44,7 @@ out="$(expectStderr 0 nix-instantiate --option foobar baz --expr '{}')"
 
 out="$(expectStderr 0 nix-instantiate '{}' --option foobar baz --expr )"
 [[ "$(echo "$out" | grep foobar | wc -l)" = 1 ]]
+
+if [[ $(uname) = Linux && $(uname -m) = i686 ]]; then
+    [[ $(nix config show system) = i686-linux ]]
+fi