diff --git a/src/basic/extract-word.c b/src/basic/extract-word.c
index 4e4e7e8ce93..06b813c031a 100644
--- a/src/basic/extract-word.c
+++ b/src/basic/extract-word.c
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ int extract_first_word(const char **p, char **ret, const char *separators, Extra
                                         else
                                                 sz += utf8_encode_unichar(s + sz, u);
                                 } else if ((flags & EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) &&
-                                           strchr(separators, **p))
-                                        /* An escaped separator char */
+                                           (strchr(separators, **p) || **p == '\\'))
+                                        /* An escaped separator char or the escape char itself */
                                         s[sz++] = c;
                                 else if (flags & EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE_RELAX) {
                                         s[sz++] = '\\';
diff --git a/src/test/test-extract-word.c b/src/test/test-extract-word.c
index f718556d399..217c600dac6 100644
--- a/src/test/test-extract-word.c
+++ b/src/test/test-extract-word.c
@@ -365,6 +365,18 @@ static void test_extract_first_word(void) {
         free(t);
         assert_se(p == NULL);
 
+        p = "a\\ b:c\\x";
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == -EINVAL);
+
+        p = "a\\\\ b:c\\\\x";
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "a\\ b"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "c\\x"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(p == NULL);
+
         p = "\\:";
         assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE|EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == 1);
         assert_se(streq(t, ":"));
@@ -386,6 +398,18 @@ static void test_extract_first_word(void) {
         free(t);
         assert_se(p == NULL);
 
+        p = "a\\ b:c\\x";
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE|EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == -EINVAL);
+
+        p = "a\\\\ b:c\\\\x";
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE|EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "a\\ b"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE|EXTRACT_UNESCAPE_SEPARATORS) == 1);
+        assert_se(streq(t, "c\\x"));
+        free(t);
+        assert_se(p == NULL);
+
         p = "\\:";
         assert_se(extract_first_word(&p, &t, ":", EXTRACT_CUNESCAPE) == -EINVAL);