diff --git a/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/meta.in b/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/meta.in
index 4533d3591bc..eb24075aea6 100644
--- a/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/meta.in
+++ b/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/meta.in
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ a[bc]d		&	abd	abd
 a\*c		&	a*c	a*c
 a\\b		&	a\b	a\b
 a\\\*b		&	a\*b	a\*b
-a\bc		&	abc	abc
+# Begin FreeBSD
+a\bc		&C	EESCAPE
+# End FreeBSD
 a\		&C	EESCAPE
 a\\bc		&	a\bc	a\bc
 \{		bC	BADRPT
diff --git a/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/subexp.in b/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/subexp.in
index d3efe2eab27..e3d376bb7cb 100644
--- a/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/subexp.in
+++ b/contrib/netbsd-tests/lib/libc/regex/data/subexp.in
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ a(b+)c		-	abbbc	abbbc	bbb
 a(b*)c		-	ac	ac	@c
 (a|ab)(bc([de]+)f|cde)	-	abcdef	abcdef	a,bcdef,de
 # Begin FreeBSD
-a\(b\|c\)d	b	ab|cd	ab|cd	b|c
+a\(b|c\)d	b	ab|cd	ab|cd	b|c
 # End FreeBSD
 # the regression tester only asks for 9 subexpressions
 a(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(h)(i)(j)k	-	abcdefghijk	abcdefghijk	b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j
diff --git a/lib/libc/regex/regcomp.c b/lib/libc/regex/regcomp.c
index 586621c5a74..31156830cff 100644
--- a/lib/libc/regex/regcomp.c
+++ b/lib/libc/regex/regcomp.c
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ static void p_b_cclass(struct parse *p, cset *cs);
 static void p_b_eclass(struct parse *p, cset *cs);
 static wint_t p_b_symbol(struct parse *p);
 static wint_t p_b_coll_elem(struct parse *p, wint_t endc);
+static int may_escape(struct parse *p, const wint_t ch);
 static wint_t othercase(wint_t ch);
 static void bothcases(struct parse *p, wint_t ch);
 static void ordinary(struct parse *p, wint_t ch);
@@ -441,7 +442,10 @@ p_ere_exp(struct parse *p, struct branchc *bc)
 			EMIT(OEOW, 0);
 			break;
 		default:
-			ordinary(p, wc);
+			if (may_escape(p, wc) == 0)
+				ordinary(p, wc);
+			else
+				SETERROR(REG_EESCAPE);
 			break;
 		}
 		break;
@@ -803,7 +807,10 @@ p_simp_re(struct parse *p, struct branchc *bc)
 			return (false);	/* Definitely not $... */
 		p->next--;
 		wc = WGETNEXT();
-		ordinary(p, wc);
+		if ((c & BACKSL) == 0 || may_escape(p, wc) == 0)
+			ordinary(p, wc);
+		else
+			SETERROR(REG_EESCAPE);
 		break;
 	}
 
@@ -1100,6 +1107,53 @@ p_b_coll_elem(struct parse *p,
 	return(0);
 }
 
+/*
+ - may_escape - determine whether 'ch' is escape-able in the current context
+ == static int may_escape(struct parse *p, const wint_t ch)
+ */
+static int
+may_escape(struct parse *p, const wint_t ch)
+{
+
+	if (isalpha(ch) || ch == '\'' || ch == '`')
+		return (1);
+	return (0);
+#ifdef NOTYET
+	/*
+	 * Build a whitelist of characters that may be escaped to produce an
+	 * ordinary in the current context. This assumes that these have not
+	 * been otherwise interpreted as a special character. Escaping an
+	 * ordinary character yields undefined results according to
+	 * IEEE 1003.1-2008. Some extensions (notably, some GNU extensions) take
+	 * advantage of this and use escaped ordinary characters to provide
+	 * special meaning, e.g. \b, \B, \w, \W, \s, \S.
+	 */
+	switch(ch) {
+	case '|':
+	case '+':
+	case '?':
+		/* The above characters may not be escaped in BREs */
+		if (!(p->g->cflags&REG_EXTENDED))
+			return 1;
+		/* Fallthrough */
+	case '(':
+	case ')':
+	case '{':
+	case '}':
+	case '.':
+	case '[':
+	case ']':
+	case '\\':
+	case '*':
+	case '^':
+	case '$':
+		return 0;
+	default:
+		return 1;
+	}
+#endif
+}
+
 /*
  - othercase - return the case counterpart of an alphabetic
  == static wint_t othercase(wint_t ch);