diff --git a/lib/dictBuilder/cover.c b/lib/dictBuilder/cover.c
index 6d473624..448f7137 100644
--- a/lib/dictBuilder/cover.c
+++ b/lib/dictBuilder/cover.c
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@ static size_t COVER_buildDictionary(const COVER_ctx_t *ctx, U32 *freqs,
   /* Divide the data up into epochs of equal size.
    * We will select at least one segment from each epoch.
    */
-  const U32 epochs = (U32)(dictBufferCapacity / parameters.k);
+  const U32 epochs = MAX(1, (U32)(dictBufferCapacity / parameters.k / 4));
   const U32 epochSize = (U32)(ctx->suffixSize / epochs);
   size_t epoch;
   DISPLAYLEVEL(2, "Breaking content into %u epochs of size %u\n", epochs,