diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
index e50046d..6548521 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
@@ -981,6 +981,14 @@ namespace chaiscript
 
             if (is_hex_char) {
               hex_matches.push_back(t_char);
+
+              if (hex_matches.size() == 2*sizeof(char_type)) {
+                // This rule differs from the C/C++ standard, but ChaiScript
+                // does not offer the same workaround options, and having
+                // hexadecimal sequences longer than can fit into the char
+                // type is undefined behavior anyway.
+                process_hex();
+              }
               return;
             } else {
               process_hex();
diff --git a/unittests/hex_escapes.chai b/unittests/hex_escapes.chai
index 14ec62e..fdd0a8a 100644
--- a/unittests/hex_escapes.chai
+++ b/unittests/hex_escapes.chai
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 
 assert_equal("\x39", "9")
-assert_equal("\x039", "9")
+assert_equal("\x39ec", "9ec")
 assert_equal("\x39g", "9g")
 assert_equal("b\x39g", "b9g")
 assert_equal("\x39\x38g", "98g")