diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index a8876cfe01..9402103401 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -569,11 +569,9 @@ decl_headers = '''
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <sched.h>
 #include <sys/mount.h>
-#include <uchar.h>
 '''
 
-foreach decl : ['char16_t',
-                'char32_t',
+foreach decl : [
                 'struct mount_attr',
                 'struct dirent64',
                 'struct sched_attr',
diff --git a/src/basic/escape.h b/src/basic/escape.h
index 224a795aa4..05c27f688e 100644
--- a/src/basic/escape.h
+++ b/src/basic/escape.h
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 #include <uchar.h>
 
 #include "string-util.h"
-#include "missing_type.h"
 
 /* What characters are special in the shell? */
 /* must be escaped outside and inside double-quotes */
diff --git a/src/basic/missing_type.h b/src/basic/missing_type.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 1d17705c35..0000000000
--- a/src/basic/missing_type.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later */
-#pragma once
-
-#include <uchar.h>
-
-#if !HAVE_CHAR32_T
-#  define char32_t uint32_t
-#endif
-
-#if !HAVE_CHAR16_T
-#  define char16_t uint16_t
-#endif
diff --git a/src/basic/utf8.h b/src/basic/utf8.h
index f6158b2ef1..3b1a468c4f 100644
--- a/src/basic/utf8.h
+++ b/src/basic/utf8.h
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 #include <uchar.h>
 
 #include "macro.h"
-#include "missing_type.h"
 
 #define UTF8_REPLACEMENT_CHARACTER "\xef\xbf\xbd"
 #define UTF8_BYTE_ORDER_MARK "\xef\xbb\xbf"