diff --git a/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb b/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb
index fec8150c79f..553de8eb50e 100644
--- a/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb
+++ b/lib/i18n/backend/discourse_i18n.rb
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ module I18n
         results = {}
 
         fallbacks(locale).each do |fallback|
-          find_results(/#{query}/i, results, translations[fallback])
+          find_results(/#{Regexp.escape(query)}/i, results, translations[fallback])
         end
 
         results
diff --git a/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb b/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb
index 72dfc368ce5..bf51e6e7251 100644
--- a/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/discourse_i18n_spec.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ describe I18n::Backend::DiscourseI18n do
     backend.store_translations(:en, items: { one: 'one item', other: "%{count} items" })
     backend.store_translations(:de, bar: 'Bar in :de')
     backend.store_translations(:ru, baz: 'Baz in :ru')
+    backend.store_translations(:en, link: '[text](url)')
   end
 
   after do
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ describe I18n::Backend::DiscourseI18n do
     expect(backend.search(:en, 'Foo')).to eq('foo' => 'Foo in :en')
     expect(backend.search(:en, 'hello')).to eq('wat' => 'Hello %{count}')
     expect(backend.search(:en, 'items.one')).to eq('items.one' => 'one item')
+    expect(backend.search(:en, '](')).to eq('link' => '[text](url)')
   end
 
   it 'can return multiple results' do