diff --git a/gnu/packages/dbm.scm b/gnu/packages/dbm.scm
index 82647c0c28..2dd51efb8c 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/dbm.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/dbm.scm
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 ;;; Copyright © 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il>
 ;;; Copyright © 2017, 2018 Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com>
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>
+;;; Copyright © 2021 Leo Le Bouter <lle-bout@zaclys.net>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -74,6 +75,11 @@ (define-public bdb-4.8
                              '("--build=aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu")
                              '())
 
+                       ;; Bdb doesn't recognize powerpc64le as an architecture.
+                       ,@(if (string=? "powerpc64le-linux" (%current-system))
+                             '("--build=powerpc64le-unknown-linux-gnu")
+                             '())
+
                        ,@(if (%current-target-system)         ; cross building
                              '((string-append "--host=" target))
                              '())