diff --git a/Lib/test/test_itertools.py b/Lib/test/test_itertools.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_itertools.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_itertools.py
@@ -965,6 +965,12 @@
         self.assertEqual(take(2, copy.deepcopy(c)), list('a' * 2))
         self.pickletest(repeat(object='a', times=10))
 
+    def test_repeat_with_negative_times(self):
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', -1)), "repeat('a', 0)")
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', -2)), "repeat('a', 0)")
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', times=-1)), "repeat('a', 0)")
+        self.assertEqual(repr(repeat('a', times=-2)), "repeat('a', 0)")
+
     def test_map(self):
         self.assertEqual(list(map(operator.pow, range(3), range(1,7))),
                          [0**1, 1**2, 2**3])
@@ -1730,8 +1736,15 @@
 
     def test_repeat(self):
         self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None, 50)), 50)
+        self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None, 0)), 0)
         self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None), 12), 12)
 
+    def test_repeat_with_negative_times(self):
+        self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None, -1)), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None, -2)), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None, times=-1)), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(operator.length_hint(repeat(None, times=-2)), 0)
+
 class RegressionTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_sf_793826(self):
diff --git a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
--- a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
@@ -4039,15 +4039,26 @@
 {
     repeatobject *ro;
     PyObject *element;
-    Py_ssize_t cnt = -1;
+    Py_ssize_t cnt = -2;
     static char *kwargs[] = {"object", "times", NULL};
 
     if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|n:repeat", kwargs,
                                      &element, &cnt))
         return NULL;
 
-    if (PyTuple_Size(args) == 2 && cnt < 0)
-        cnt = 0;
+    if (cnt < 0) {
+        if (cnt == -2) {
+            /* Recheck args to see if the user actually specified -2 */
+            cnt = -1;
+            if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|n:repeat", kwargs,
+                                             &element, &cnt))
+                return NULL;
+            if (cnt == -2)
+                cnt = 0;
+        } else {
+            cnt = 0;
+        }
+    }
 
     ro = (repeatobject *)type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
     if (ro == NULL)