diff --git a/spec/axis-spec.js b/spec/axis-spec.js
index f56534f..6463fe2 100644
--- a/spec/axis-spec.js
+++ b/spec/axis-spec.js
@@ -522,6 +522,31 @@ describe('c3 chart axis', function () {
                         });
                     });
                 });
+
+                describe('with multilineMax', function() {
+                    beforeAll(function() {
+                        args.axis.x.tick = {
+                            multiline: true,
+                            multilineMax: 2,
+                        };
+                    });
+
+                    it('should ellipsify x tick properly', function() {
+                        var tick = chart.internal.main.select('.c3-axis-x').select('g.tick');
+                        var tspans = tick.selectAll('tspan');
+                        var expectedTickText = [
+                            'this is a very long',
+                            'tick text on categ...',
+                        ];
+
+                        expect(tspans.size()).toBe(2);
+
+                        tspans.each(function (d, i) {
+                            var tspan = d3.select(this);
+                            expect(tspan.text()).toBe(expectedTickText[i]);
+                        });
+                    });
+                });
             });
         });
 
diff --git a/src/axis.js b/src/axis.js
index eed5a97..93d1562 100644
--- a/src/axis.js
+++ b/src/axis.js
@@ -111,6 +111,11 @@ c3_axis_internal_fn.isVertical = function () {
 c3_axis_internal_fn.tspanData = function (d, i, ticks, scale) {
     var internal = this;
     var splitted = internal.params.tickMultiline ? internal.splitTickText(d, ticks, scale) : [].concat(internal.textFormatted(d));
+
+    if (internal.params.tickMultiline && internal.params.tickMultilineMax > 0) {
+        splitted = internal.ellipsify(splitted, internal.params.tickMultilineMax);
+    }
+
     return splitted.map(function (s) {
         return { index: i, splitted: s, length: splitted.length };
     });
@@ -150,6 +155,27 @@ c3_axis_internal_fn.splitTickText = function (d, ticks, scale) {
 
     return split(splitted, tickText + "");
 };
+c3_axis_internal_fn.ellipsify = function(splitted, max) {
+    if (splitted.length <= max) {
+        return splitted;
+    }
+
+    var ellipsified = splitted.slice(0, max);
+    var remaining = 3;
+    for (var i = max-1 ; i >= 0 ; i--) {
+        var available = ellipsified[i].length;
+
+        ellipsified[i] = ellipsified[i].substr(0, available-remaining).padEnd(available, '.');
+
+        remaining -= available;
+
+        if (remaining <= 0) {
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return ellipsified;
+};
 c3_axis_internal_fn.updateTickLength = function () {
     var internal = this;
     internal.tickLength = Math.max(internal.innerTickSize, 0) + internal.tickPadding;
@@ -422,6 +448,7 @@ c3_axis_fn.getXAxis = function getXAxis(scale, orient, tickFormat, tickValues, w
             isCategory: $$.isCategorized(),
             withOuterTick: withOuterTick,
             tickMultiline: config.axis_x_tick_multiline,
+            tickMultilineMax: config.axis_x_tick_multiline ? Number(config.axis_x_tick_multilineMax) : 0,
             tickWidth: config.axis_x_tick_width,
             tickTextRotate: withoutRotateTickText ? 0 : config.axis_x_tick_rotate,
             withoutTransition: withoutTransition,
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 9d89b8b..ca6e414 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ c3_chart_internal_fn.getDefaultConfig = function () {
         axis_x_tick_rotate: 0,
         axis_x_tick_outer: true,
         axis_x_tick_multiline: true,
+        axis_x_tick_multilineMax: 0,
         axis_x_tick_width: null,
         axis_x_max: undefined,
         axis_x_min: undefined,
diff --git a/src/polyfill.js b/src/polyfill.js
index 741cb6e..6678d7d 100644
--- a/src/polyfill.js
+++ b/src/polyfill.js
@@ -871,4 +871,25 @@ if (!Function.prototype.bind) {
     }
 }());
 
+// String.padEnd polyfill for IE11
+//
+// https://github.com/uxitten/polyfill/blob/master/string.polyfill.js
+// https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/padEnd
+if (!String.prototype.padEnd) {
+    String.prototype.padEnd = function padEnd(targetLength,padString) {
+        targetLength = targetLength>>0; //floor if number or convert non-number to 0;
+        padString = String((typeof padString !== 'undefined' ? padString : ' '));
+        if (this.length > targetLength) {
+            return String(this);
+        }
+        else {
+            targetLength = targetLength-this.length;
+            if (targetLength > padString.length) {
+                padString += padString.repeat(targetLength/padString.length); //append to original to ensure we are longer than needed
+            }
+            return String(this) + padString.slice(0,targetLength);
+        }
+    };
+}
+
 /* jshint ignore:end */