diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 38ce997f..3ae0bd31 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -118,7 +118,8 @@ nvm_node_version() {
 
 nvm_download() {
   if nvm_has_executable "curl"; then
-    command curl --fail --compressed -q "$@"
+    # curl only skips reading `.curlrc` when `-q` is its very first argument
+    command curl -q --fail --compressed "$@"
   elif nvm_has_executable "wget"; then
     # Emulate curl with wget
     local NVM_DOWNLOAD_WGET_COUNT
diff --git a/nvm.sh b/nvm.sh
index a95b7884..532df111 100755
--- a/nvm.sh
+++ b/nvm.sh
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ nvm_get_latest() {
     if nvm_curl_use_compression; then
       CURL_COMPRESSED_FLAG="--compressed"
     fi
-    NVM_LATEST_URL="$(command curl ${CURL_COMPRESSED_FLAG:-} -q -w "%{url_effective}\\n" -L -s -S https://latest.nvm.sh -o /dev/null)"
+    NVM_LATEST_URL="$(command curl -q ${CURL_COMPRESSED_FLAG:-} -w "%{url_effective}\\n" -L -s -S https://latest.nvm.sh -o /dev/null)"
   elif nvm_has_executable "wget"; then
     NVM_LATEST_URL="$(command wget -q https://latest.nvm.sh --server-response -O /dev/null 2>&1 | command awk '/^  Location: /{DEST=$2} END{ print DEST }')"
   else
@@ -166,10 +166,12 @@ nvm_download() {
   NVM_DOWNLOADER=''
   if nvm_has_executable "curl"; then
     NVM_DOWNLOADER='curl'
-    set -- -q --fail "$@"
+    set -- --fail "$@"
     if nvm_curl_use_compression; then
       set -- --compressed "$@"
     fi
+    # curl only skips reading `.curlrc` when `-q` is its very first argument
+    set -- -q "$@"
   elif nvm_has_executable "wget"; then
     NVM_DOWNLOADER='wget'
     # Emulate curl with wget
diff --git a/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_download and nvm_get_latest pass -q to curl first b/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_download and nvm_get_latest pass -q to curl first
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..bd544714
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fast/Unit tests/nvm_download and nvm_get_latest pass -q to curl first	
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+WORK="$PWD/curl-q-first-work.$$"
+TEST_BIN="$WORK/bin"
+ARGV_LOG="$WORK/argv.log"
+
+cleanup () {
+  unset -f die cleanup
+  rm -rf "$WORK"
+  export PATH="$OLDPATH"
+}
+
+die () { echo "$@" ; cleanup ; exit 1; }
+
+NVM_ENV=testing \. ../../../nvm.sh
+
+\. ../../common.sh
+
+OLDPATH="$PATH"
+
+# curl only skips reading `.curlrc` when `-q` is its very first argument
+make_fake_curl "$TEST_BIN" ': > "$ARGV_LOG"
+for a in "$@"; do printf "%s\n" "$a" >> "$ARGV_LOG"; done
+echo "https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm/releases/tag/v0.0.0"'
+
+export ARGV_LOG
+export PATH="$TEST_BIN:$OLDPATH"
+
+# with compression support, --compressed must still come after -q
+VERSION_MESSAGE="curl 7.99.0 (fake)
+Features: libz"
+
+nvm_download -s 'http://example.com/' -o /dev/null || die 'nvm_download failed with compression support'
+[ "$(head -n 1 "$ARGV_LOG")" = '-q' ] || die "nvm_download (with compression) did not pass -q first; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+grep -Fxqe '--compressed' "$ARGV_LOG" || die "nvm_download (with compression) did not pass --compressed; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+
+nvm_get_latest > /dev/null || die 'nvm_get_latest failed with compression support'
+[ "$(head -n 1 "$ARGV_LOG")" = '-q' ] || die "nvm_get_latest (with compression) did not pass -q first; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+grep -Fxqe '--compressed' "$ARGV_LOG" || die "nvm_get_latest (with compression) did not pass --compressed; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+
+# without compression support
+VERSION_MESSAGE="curl 7.99.0 (fake)
+Features: SSL"
+
+nvm_download -s 'http://example.com/' -o /dev/null || die 'nvm_download failed without compression support'
+[ "$(head -n 1 "$ARGV_LOG")" = '-q' ] || die "nvm_download (without compression) did not pass -q first; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+
+nvm_get_latest > /dev/null || die 'nvm_get_latest failed without compression support'
+[ "$(head -n 1 "$ARGV_LOG")" = '-q' ] || die "nvm_get_latest (without compression) did not pass -q first; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+
+cleanup
diff --git a/test/install_script/nvm_download_curl_q_first b/test/install_script/nvm_download_curl_q_first
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..18778387
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/install_script/nvm_download_curl_q_first
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+OLDPATH="$PATH"
+WORK="$PWD/nvm_download-q-first-work.$$"
+TEST_BIN="$WORK/bin"
+ARGV_LOG="$WORK/argv.log"
+
+cleanup() {
+  unset -f die cleanup
+  rm -rf "$WORK"
+  export PATH="$OLDPATH"
+}
+die () { echo "$@" ; cleanup ; exit 1; }
+
+NVM_ENV=testing \. ../../install.sh
+
+mkdir -p "$TEST_BIN"
+
+# fake curl: record each received argument, then succeed
+{
+  echo '#!/bin/sh'
+  echo ': > "$ARGV_LOG"'
+  echo 'for a in "$@"; do printf "%s\n" "$a" >> "$ARGV_LOG"; done'
+  echo 'exit 0'
+} > "$TEST_BIN/curl"
+chmod +x "$TEST_BIN/curl"
+
+export ARGV_LOG
+export PATH="$TEST_BIN:$OLDPATH"
+
+nvm_download -s 'http://example.test/nvm.sh' -o - || die 'nvm_download returned nonzero'
+
+# curl only skips reading `.curlrc` when `-q` is its very first argument
+[ "$(head -n 1 "$ARGV_LOG")" = '-q' ] || die "curl did not receive -q as its first argument; got: $(cat "$ARGV_LOG")"
+
+cleanup
diff --git a/test/slow/nvm_get_latest/nvm_get_latest b/test/slow/nvm_get_latest/nvm_get_latest
index 0a12b21c..9c2f334c 100755
--- a/test/slow/nvm_get_latest/nvm_get_latest
+++ b/test/slow/nvm_get_latest/nvm_get_latest
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ OLDPATH="$PATH"
 
 EXPECTED_VERSION="v12.3.456"
 URL="https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm/releases/tag/$EXPECTED_VERSION"
-EXPECTED_CURL_ARGS="--compressed -q -w %{url_effective}\n -L -s -S https://latest.nvm.sh -o /dev/null"
+EXPECTED_CURL_ARGS="-q --compressed -w %{url_effective}\n -L -s -S https://latest.nvm.sh -o /dev/null"
 EXPECTED_WGET_ARGS="-q https://latest.nvm.sh --server-response -O /dev/null"
 export URL EXPECTED_CURL_ARGS EXPECTED_WGET_ARGS