diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.spec.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.spec.ts
index a09d683d3..95512edfb 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.spec.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ describe('split lines', () => {
     { str: 'hello 12 world', width: 4, split: ['hell', 'o 12', 'worl', 'd'] },
     { str: 'hello  1 2 world', width: 4, split: ['hell', 'o  1', '2', 'worl', 'd'] },
     { str: 'hello  1 2 world', width: 6, split: ['hello', '  1 2', 'world'] },
+    // width = 0, impossible, so split into individual characters
+    { str: '🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻', width: 0, split: ['🏳️‍⚧️', '🏳️‍🌈', '👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻'] },
     { str: '🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻', width: 1, split: ['🏳️‍⚧️', '🏳️‍🌈', '👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻'] },
     { str: '🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻', width: 2, split: ['🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈', '👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻'] },
     { str: '🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻', width: 3, split: ['🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏻'] },
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.ts
index f32f3aacf..64a6cebbe 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/rendering-util/splitText.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@ function splitWordToFitWidthRecursion(
   if (checkFit([{ content: newWord.join(''), type }])) {
     return splitWordToFitWidthRecursion(checkFit, newWord, rest, type);
   }
+  if (usedChars.length === 0 && nextChar) {
+    // If the first character does not fit, split it anyway
+    usedChars.push(nextChar);
+    remainingChars.shift();
+  }
   return [
     { content: usedChars.join(''), type },
     { content: remainingChars.join(''), type },
@@ -127,7 +132,9 @@ function splitLineToFitWidthRecursion(
     // There was no text in newLine, so we need to split nextWord
     const [line, rest] = splitWordToFitWidth(checkFit, nextWord);
     lines.push([line]);
-    words.unshift(rest);
+    if (rest.content) {
+      words.unshift(rest);
+    }
   }
   return splitLineToFitWidthRecursion(words, checkFit, lines);
 }