diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix
index 55ef0d6a781d..3bc734fd12fc 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/1.8.nix
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ./CVE-2016-8605.patch
   ];
 
+  env = {
+    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-std=gnu17";
+  };
+
   preBuild = ''
     sed -e '/lt_dlinit/a  lt_dladdsearchdir("'$out/lib'");' -i libguile/dynl.c
   '';
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/2.0.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/2.0.nix
index a5632c370cd9..ef473214c324 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/2.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/guile/2.0.nix
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ builder rec {
     "--without-threads"
   ];
 
+  env = {
+    NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-std=gnu17";
+  };
+
   postInstall = ''
     wrapProgram $out/bin/guile-snarf --prefix PATH : "${gawk}/bin"
   ''