diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 4ec70d964..a070e6d4e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2025-05-13  dana@dana.is  <dana@dana.is>
+
+	* 53588 (tweaked): Src/Modules/system.c, Test/V14system.ztst:
+	make `zsystem flock` handle optargs in the same word
+
 2025-05-12  Bart Schaefer  <schaefer@zsh.org>
 
 	* 53602: Doc/Zsh/func.yo, Src/params.c, Test/K01nameref.ztst:
diff --git a/Src/Modules/system.c b/Src/Modules/system.c
index 929a8b002..f1c0d7042 100644
--- a/Src/Modules/system.c
+++ b/Src/Modules/system.c
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ bin_zsystem_flock(char *nam, char **args, UNUSED(Options ops), UNUSED(int func))
 		/* variable for fd */
 		if (optptr[1]) {
 		    fdvar = optptr + 1;
-		    optptr += strlen(fdvar) - 1;
+		    optptr += strlen(fdvar);
 		} else if (*args) {
 		    fdvar = *args++;
 		}
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@ bin_zsystem_flock(char *nam, char **args, UNUSED(Options ops), UNUSED(int func))
 		/* timeout in seconds */
 		if (optptr[1]) {
 		    optarg = optptr + 1;
-		    optptr += strlen(optarg) - 1;
+		    optptr += strlen(optarg);
 		} else if (!*args) {
 		    zwarnnam(nam, "flock: option %c requires a numeric timeout",
 			     opt);
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ bin_zsystem_flock(char *nam, char **args, UNUSED(Options ops), UNUSED(int func))
 		/* retry interval in seconds */
 		if (optptr[1]) {
 		    optarg = optptr + 1;
-		    optptr += strlen(optarg) - 1;
+		    optptr += strlen(optarg);
 		} else if (!*args) {
 		    zwarnnam(nam,
 			     "flock: option %c requires "
diff --git a/Test/V14system.ztst b/Test/V14system.ztst
index 81253324f..bcabe4082 100644
--- a/Test/V14system.ztst
+++ b/Test/V14system.ztst
@@ -148,6 +148,16 @@ F:This timing test might fail due to process scheduling issues unrelated to zsh.
 ?elapsed time seems OK
 F:This timing test might fail due to process scheduling issues unrelated to zsh.
 
+  (
+    zsystem flock -t 0.1 -i 0.1 -f XYZ $tst_dir/file
+    echo $XYZ
+    zsystem flock -t0.1 -i0.1 -fZYX $tst_dir/file
+    echo $ZYX
+  )
+0:regression: zsystem flock optarg parsing
+*><->
+*><->
+
   unset chars REPLY
   print -n a few words | sysread -i 0 -c chars
   ret=$?