diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/harfbuzz/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/harfbuzz/package.py
index 31a5068cfca..dd8307cc3f8 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/harfbuzz/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/harfbuzz/package.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class Harfbuzz(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("glib")
     depends_on("icu4c")
     depends_on("freetype")
-    depends_on("cairo")
+    depends_on("cairo+pdf+ft")
     depends_on("zlib")
     depends_on("graphite2", when='+graphite2')