diff --git a/doc_src/cmds/path.rst b/doc_src/cmds/path.rst
index d6d2a0003..1bcc95349 100644
--- a/doc_src/cmds/path.rst
+++ b/doc_src/cmds/path.rst
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ Examples
 
 Unlike ``realpath`` or ``path resolve``, it does not make the paths absolute. It also does not resolve any symlinks. As such it can operate on non-existent paths.
 
+Leading "./" components are usually removed. But when a path starts with ``-``, ``path normalize`` will add it instead to avoid confusion with options.
+
 It returns 0 if any normalization was done, i.e. any given path wasn't in canonical form.
 
 Examples
@@ -257,6 +259,9 @@ Examples
     >_ path normalize ./my/subdirs/../sub2
     my/sub2
 
+    >_ path normalize -- -/foo
+    ./-/foo
+
 "resolve" subcommand
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/src/builtins/path.cpp b/src/builtins/path.cpp
index a019d3e23..4ae2c498c 100644
--- a/src/builtins/path.cpp
+++ b/src/builtins/path.cpp
@@ -482,7 +482,11 @@ static int path_dirname(parser_t &parser, io_streams_t &streams, int argc, const
 // Not a constref because this must have the same type as wdirname.
 // cppcheck-suppress passedByValue
 static wcstring normalize_helper(wcstring path) {
-    return normalize_path(path, false);
+    wcstring np = normalize_path(path, false);
+    if (!np.empty() && np[0] == L'-') {
+        np = L"./" + np;
+    }
+    return np;
 }
 
 static bool filter_path(options_t opts, const wcstring &path) {
diff --git a/tests/checks/path.fish b/tests/checks/path.fish
index b68b9f87e..ae14e5022 100644
--- a/tests/checks/path.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/path.fish
@@ -105,6 +105,13 @@ path normalize /bin//bash
 # The "//" is squashed, but /bin isn't resolved even if your system links it to /usr/bin.
 # CHECK:  /bin/bash
 
+# Paths with "-" get a "./":
+path normalize -- -/foo -foo/foo
+# CHECK: ./-/foo
+# CHECK: ./-foo/foo
+path normalize -- ../-foo
+# CHECK: ../-foo
+
 # We need to remove the rest of the path because we have no idea what its value looks like.
 path resolve bin//sh | string match -r -- 'bin/bash$'
 # The "//" is squashed, and the symlink is resolved.