diff --git a/include/net/socket_select.h b/include/net/socket_select.h
index 98c59a13d72f..15c8f5ed0873 100644
--- a/include/net/socket_select.h
+++ b/include/net/socket_select.h
@@ -16,15 +16,36 @@
 
 #include <zephyr/types.h>
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_POSIX_API
+#ifdef __NEWLIB__
+#include <sys/_timeval.h>
+#else
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#endif /* __NEWLIB__ */
+#endif /* CONFIG_POSIX_API */
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_POSIX_API
+/* Rely on the underlying libc definition */
+#ifdef __NEWLIB__
+#define zsock_timeval timeval
+#else
+/* workaround for older Newlib 2.x, as it lacks sys/_timeval.h */
+struct zsock_timeval {
+	time_t tv_sec;
+	suseconds_t tv_usec;
+};
+#endif /* __NEWLIB__ */
+#else
 struct zsock_timeval {
 	/* Using longs, as many (?) implementations seem to use it. */
 	long tv_sec;
 	long tv_usec;
 };
+#endif /* CONFIG_POSIX_API */
 
 typedef struct zsock_fd_set {
 	uint32_t bitset[(CONFIG_POSIX_MAX_FDS + 31) / 32];