diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2019-05-08-09-27-11.bpo-36849.M4hBa_.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2019-05-08-09-27-11.bpo-36849.M4hBa_.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e57acbeb381f28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2019-05-08-09-27-11.bpo-36849.M4hBa_.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Improve libcurses detection on HP-UX
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 01a503dcbbf0b0..e7df3df12005cf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -884,7 +884,7 @@ def detect_readline_curses(self):
                     for ln in fp:
                         if 'curses' in ln:
                             readline_termcap_library = re.sub(
-                                r'.*lib(n?cursesw?)\.so.*', r'\1', ln
+                                r'.*lib([nx]?cursesw?)\.so.*', r'\1', ln
                             ).rstrip()
                             break
                         # termcap interface split out from ncurses
@@ -980,7 +980,7 @@ def detect_readline_curses(self):
                                include_dirs=curses_includes,
                                define_macros=curses_defines,
                                libraries=curses_libs))
-        elif curses_library == 'curses' and not MACOS:
+        elif curses_library in ['curses', 'xcurses'] and not MACOS:
                 # OSX has an old Berkeley curses, not good enough for
                 # the _curses module.
             if (self.compiler.find_library_file(self.lib_dirs, 'terminfo')):