diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fafc541..a29222c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -372,6 +372,8 @@ The built-in logging formatters are:
     field to `true`.  To force no colored output even if there is a TTY  set the
     `DisableColors` field to `true`. For Windows, see
     [github.com/mattn/go-colorable](https://github.com/mattn/go-colorable).
+  * When colors are enabled, levels are truncated to 4 characters by default. To disable
+    truncation set the `DisableLevelTruncation` field to `true`.
   * All options are listed in the [generated docs](https://godoc.org/github.com/sirupsen/logrus#TextFormatter).
 * `logrus.JSONFormatter`. Logs fields as JSON.
   * All options are listed in the [generated docs](https://godoc.org/github.com/sirupsen/logrus#JSONFormatter).
diff --git a/text_formatter.go b/text_formatter.go
index 62763eb..ae91edd 100644
--- a/text_formatter.go
+++ b/text_formatter.go
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ type TextFormatter struct {
 	// be desired.
 	DisableSorting bool
 
+
+	// Disables the truncation of the level text to 4 characters.
+	DisableLevelTruncation bool
+
 	// QuoteEmptyFields will wrap empty fields in quotes if true
 	QuoteEmptyFields bool
 
@@ -125,7 +129,10 @@ func (f *TextFormatter) printColored(b *bytes.Buffer, entry *Entry, keys []strin
 		levelColor = blue
 	}
 
-	levelText := strings.ToUpper(entry.Level.String())[0:4]
+	levelText := strings.ToUpper(entry.Level.String())
+	if !f.DisableLevelTruncation {
+		levelText = levelText[0:4]
+	}
 
 	if f.DisableTimestamp {
 		fmt.Fprintf(b, "\x1b[%dm%s\x1b[0m %-44s ", levelColor, levelText, entry.Message)
diff --git a/text_formatter_test.go b/text_formatter_test.go
index d93b931..fa4321d 100644
--- a/text_formatter_test.go
+++ b/text_formatter_test.go
@@ -128,6 +128,44 @@ func TestTimestampFormat(t *testing.T) {
 	checkTimeStr("")
 }
 
+func TestDisableLevelTruncation(t *testing.T) {
+	entry := &Entry{
+		Time:    time.Now(),
+		Message: "testing",
+	}
+	keys := []string{}
+	timestampFormat := "Mon Jan 2 15:04:05 -0700 MST 2006"
+	checkDisableTruncation := func(disabled bool, level Level) {
+		tf := &TextFormatter{DisableLevelTruncation: disabled}
+		var b bytes.Buffer
+		entry.Level = level
+		tf.printColored(&b, entry, keys, timestampFormat)
+		logLine := (&b).String()
+		if disabled {
+			expected := strings.ToUpper(level.String())
+			if !strings.Contains(logLine, expected) {
+				t.Errorf("level string expected to be %s when truncation disabled", expected)
+			}
+		} else {
+			expected := strings.ToUpper(level.String())
+			if len(level.String()) > 4 {
+				if strings.Contains(logLine, expected) {
+					t.Errorf("level string %s expected to be truncated to %s when truncation is enabled", expected, expected[0:4])
+				}
+			} else {
+				if !strings.Contains(logLine, expected) {
+					t.Errorf("level string expected to be %s when truncation is enabled and level string is below truncation threshold", expected)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	checkDisableTruncation(true, DebugLevel)
+	checkDisableTruncation(true, InfoLevel)
+	checkDisableTruncation(false, ErrorLevel)
+	checkDisableTruncation(false, InfoLevel)
+}
+
 func TestDisableTimestampWithColoredOutput(t *testing.T) {
 	tf := &TextFormatter{DisableTimestamp: true, ForceColors: true}