diff --git a/entitymap.go b/entitymap.go
index c70b9ea..d17faec 100644
--- a/entitymap.go
+++ b/entitymap.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func EntityToUtf8(entity string) string {
 	}
 
 	var arr [4]byte
-	if size := utf8.EncodeRune(arr[:], num); size == 0 {
+	if size := utf8.EncodeRune(arr[:], rune(num)); size == 0 {
 		return "&#" + entity + ";"
 	}