diff --git a/src/common/InputHandler.ts b/src/common/InputHandler.ts
index 8d36fb21..afc41a3a 100644
--- a/src/common/InputHandler.ts
+++ b/src/common/InputHandler.ts
@@ -126,10 +126,6 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
   protected _windowTitleStack: string[] = [];
   protected _iconNameStack: string[] = [];
 
-  // Cached result of getJoinProperties(..., precedingCodepoint).
-  // Only valid if precedingCodepoint !== 0
-  public precedingJoinState: number = -1; // UnicodeJoinProperties
-
   private _curAttrData: IAttributeData = DEFAULT_ATTR_DATA.clone();
   public getAttrData(): IAttributeData { return this._curAttrData; }
   private _eraseAttrDataInternal: IAttributeData = DEFAULT_ATTR_DATA.clone();
@@ -521,8 +517,7 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
       bufferRow.setCellFromCodePoint(this._activeBuffer.x - 1, 0, 1, curAttr.fg, curAttr.bg, curAttr.extended);
     }
 
-    let precedingJoinState = this._parser.precedingCodepoint === 0 ? 0
-      : this.precedingJoinState;
+    let precedingJoinState = this._parser.precedingJoinState;
     for (let pos = start; pos < end; ++pos) {
       code = data[pos];
 
@@ -636,18 +631,7 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
       }
     }
 
-    this.precedingJoinState = precedingJoinState;
-    // store last char in Parser.precedingCodepoint for REP to work correctly
-    // This needs to check whether:
-    //  - combining: only base char gets carried on (bug in xterm?)
-    if (end - start > 0) {
-      bufferRow.loadCell(this._activeBuffer.x - 1, this._workCell);
-      if (this._workCell.isCombined()) {
-        this._parser.precedingCodepoint = this._workCell.getChars().charCodeAt(0);
-      } else {
-        this._parser.precedingCodepoint = this._workCell.content;
-      }
-    }
+    this._parser.precedingJoinState = precedingJoinState;
 
     // handle wide chars: reset cell to the right if it is second cell of a wide char
     if (this._activeBuffer.x < cols && end - start > 0 && bufferRow.getWidth(this._activeBuffer.x) === 0 && !bufferRow.hasContent(this._activeBuffer.x)) {
@@ -1593,9 +1577,8 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
    *    If the character preceding REP is a control function or part of a control function,
    *    the effect of REP is not defined by this Standard.
    *
-   * Since we propagate the terminal as xterm-256color we have to follow xterm's behavior:
-   *    - fullwidth + surrogate chars are ignored
-   *    - for combining chars only the base char gets repeated
+   * We extend xterm's behavior to allow repeating entire grapheme clusters.
+   * This isn't 100% xterm-compatible, but it seems saner and more useful.
    *    - text attrs are applied normally
    *    - wrap around is respected
    *    - any valid sequence resets the carried forward char
@@ -1609,16 +1592,29 @@ export class InputHandler extends Disposable implements IInputHandler {
    * (NOOP for any other sequence in between or NON ASCII characters).
    */
   public repeatPrecedingCharacter(params: IParams): boolean {
-    if (!this._parser.precedingCodepoint) {
+    const joinState = this._parser.precedingJoinState;
+    if (!joinState) {
       return true;
     }
     // call print to insert the chars and handle correct wrapping
     const length = params.params[0] || 1;
-    const data = new Uint32Array(length);
-    for (let i = 0; i < length; ++i) {
-      data[i] = this._parser.precedingCodepoint;
+    const chWidth = UnicodeService.extractWidth(joinState);
+    const x = this._activeBuffer.x - chWidth;
+    const bufferRow = this._activeBuffer.lines.get(this._activeBuffer.ybase + this._activeBuffer.y)!;
+    const text = bufferRow.getString(x);
+    const data = new Uint32Array(text.length * length);
+    let idata = 0;
+    for (let itext = 0; itext < text.length; ) {
+      const ch = text.codePointAt(itext) || 0;
+      data[idata++] = ch;
+      itext += ch > 0xffff ? 2 : 1;
     }
-    this.print(data, 0, data.length);
+    let tlength = idata;
+    for (let i = 1; i < length; ++i) {
+      data.copyWithin(tlength, 0, idata);
+      tlength += idata;
+    }
+    this.print(data, 0, tlength);
     return true;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/common/parser/EscapeSequenceParser.ts b/src/common/parser/EscapeSequenceParser.ts
index de206322..b3d02768 100644
--- a/src/common/parser/EscapeSequenceParser.ts
+++ b/src/common/parser/EscapeSequenceParser.ts
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ export const VT500_TRANSITION_TABLE = (function (): TransitionTable {
 export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceParser {
   public initialState: number;
   public currentState: number;
-  public precedingCodepoint: number;
+  public precedingJoinState: number; // UnicodeJoinProperties
 
   // buffers over several parse calls
   protected _params: Params;
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
     this._params = new Params(); // defaults to 32 storable params/subparams
     this._params.addParam(0);    // ZDM
     this._collect = 0;
-    this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+    this.precedingJoinState = 0;
 
     // set default fallback handlers and handler lookup containers
     this._printHandlerFb = (data, start, end): void => { };
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
     this._params.reset();
     this._params.addParam(0); // ZDM
     this._collect = 0;
-    this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+    this.precedingJoinState = 0;
     // abort pending continuation from async handler
     // Here the RESET type indicates, that the next parse call will
     // ignore any saved stack, instead continues sync with next codepoint from GROUND
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
         // cleanup before continuing with the main sync loop
         this._parseStack.state = ParserStackType.NONE;
         start = this._parseStack.chunkPos + 1;
-        this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+        this.precedingJoinState = 0;
         this.currentState = this._parseStack.transition & TableAccess.TRANSITION_STATE_MASK;
       }
     }
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
         case ParserAction.EXECUTE:
           if (this._executeHandlers[code]) this._executeHandlers[code]();
           else this._executeHandlerFb(code);
-          this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+          this.precedingJoinState = 0;
           break;
         case ParserAction.IGNORE:
           break;
@@ -688,7 +688,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
           if (j < 0) {
             this._csiHandlerFb(this._collect << 8 | code, this._params);
           }
-          this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+          this.precedingJoinState = 0;
           break;
         case ParserAction.PARAM:
           // inner loop: digits (0x30 - 0x39) and ; (0x3b) and : (0x3a)
@@ -727,7 +727,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
           if (jj < 0) {
             this._escHandlerFb(this._collect << 8 | code);
           }
-          this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+          this.precedingJoinState = 0;
           break;
         case ParserAction.CLEAR:
           this._params.reset();
@@ -758,7 +758,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
           this._params.reset();
           this._params.addParam(0); // ZDM
           this._collect = 0;
-          this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+          this.precedingJoinState = 0;
           break;
         case ParserAction.OSC_START:
           this._oscParser.start();
@@ -783,7 +783,7 @@ export class EscapeSequenceParser extends Disposable implements IEscapeSequenceP
           this._params.reset();
           this._params.addParam(0); // ZDM
           this._collect = 0;
-          this.precedingCodepoint = 0;
+          this.precedingJoinState = 0;
           break;
       }
       this.currentState = transition & TableAccess.TRANSITION_STATE_MASK;
diff --git a/src/common/parser/Types.d.ts b/src/common/parser/Types.d.ts
index a1ea0ec2..839a0a72 100644
--- a/src/common/parser/Types.d.ts
+++ b/src/common/parser/Types.d.ts
@@ -146,11 +146,12 @@ export type PrintFallbackHandlerType = PrintHandlerType;
  */
 export interface IEscapeSequenceParser extends IDisposable {
   /**
-   * Preceding codepoint to get REP working correctly.
-   * This must be set by the print handler as last action.
-   * It gets reset by the parser for any valid sequence beside REP itself.
+   * Preceding grapheme-join-state.
+   * Used for joining graphame clusters across calls to `print`.
+   * Also used by REP to check if repeat a character is allowed.
+   * It gets reset by the parser for any valid sequence besides text.
    */
-  precedingCodepoint: number;
+  precedingJoinState: number; // More specifically: UnicodeJoinProperties
 
   /**
    * Reset the parser to its initial state (handlers are kept).
diff --git a/test/api/InputHandler.api.ts b/test/api/InputHandler.api.ts
index c894a4d8..b8d20455 100644
--- a/test/api/InputHandler.api.ts
+++ b/test/api/InputHandler.api.ts
@@ -272,18 +272,18 @@ describe('InputHandler Integration Tests', function(): void {
           `);
       await pollFor(page, () => getLinesAsArray(4), ['##', '##', '##', '######']);
       await pollFor(page, () => getCursor(), { col: 6, row: 3 });
-      // should not repeat on fullwidth chars
+      // do repeat on fullwidth chars (change from xterm)
       await page.evaluate(`
           window.term.reset();
           window.term.write('￥\x1b[10b');
           `);
-      await pollFor(page, () => getLinesAsArray(1), ['￥']);
-      // should repeat only base char of combining
+      await pollFor(page, () => getLinesAsArray(1), ['￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥']);
+      // change from xterm: repeat grapheme cluster
       await page.evaluate(`
           window.term.reset();
-          window.term.write('e\u0301\x1b[5b');
+          window.term.write('e\u0301\x1b[2b');
           `);
-      await pollFor(page, () => getLinesAsArray(1), ['e\u0301eeeee']);
+      await pollFor(page, () => getLinesAsArray(1), ['e\u0301e\u0301e\u0301']);
       // should wrap correctly
       await page.evaluate(`
           window.term.reset();