diff --git a/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/NormalizerImpl.java b/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/NormalizerImpl.java
index 87f6b00dbb5..fd5a9ef75c4 100644
--- a/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/NormalizerImpl.java
+++ b/icu4j/main/classes/core/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/NormalizerImpl.java
@@ -1792,7 +1792,7 @@ public final class NormalizerImpl {
         DecomposeArgs decompArgs = new DecomposeArgs();
 
         for(;;) {
-            if(start >= limit) {
+            if(start == limit) {
                 break; /* end of string */
             }
             c=src[start];