diff --git a/src/lexer.mll b/src/lexer.mll
index b64030fe1a6..2f5836c36a5 100644
--- a/src/lexer.mll
+++ b/src/lexer.mll
@@ -22,9 +22,23 @@ let error_nest start lexbuf msg =
   lexbuf.Lexing.lex_start_p <- start;
   error lexbuf msg
 
-let unicode lexbuf s i =
+let classify_utf8_leader lexbuf = Int32.(function
+  | ch when logand ch (lognot 0b01111111l) = 0b00000000l -> 0
+  | ch when logand ch (lognot 0b00011111l) = 0b11000000l -> 1
+  | ch when logand ch (lognot 0b00001111l) = 0b11100000l -> 2
+  | ch when logand ch (lognot 0b00000111l) = 0b11110000l -> 3
+  | ch -> error lexbuf (Printf.sprintf "invalid utf-8 character: 0x%x" (Int32.to_int ch)))
+
+let utf8_decoder l lexbuf s i =
+  let leading = classify_utf8_leader lexbuf (Int32.of_int (Char.code s.[!i]))
+  in if leading = 0 then Char.code s.[!i]
+     else match Utf8.decode (String.sub s !i (1 + leading)) with
+          | [code] -> i := !i + leading; code
+          | _ -> error lexbuf "can not interpret unicode character"
+
+let unicode lexbuf s i decoder =
   let u =
-    if s.[!i] <> '\\' then Char.code s.[!i] else
+    if s.[!i] <> '\\' then decoder lexbuf s i else
     match (incr i; s.[!i]) with
     | 'n' -> Char.code '\n'
     | 'r' -> Char.code '\r'
@@ -44,14 +58,17 @@ let unicode lexbuf s i =
       int_of_string ("0x" ^ String.make 1 h ^ String.make 1 s.[!i])
   in incr i; u
 
-let char lexbuf s =
-  unicode lexbuf s (ref 1)
+let char lexbuf s = unicode lexbuf s (ref 1) (fun _ _ _ ->
+                        match Utf8.decode s with
+                        | [39; code; 39] -> code (* surrounded by apostrophes *)
+                        | _ -> error lexbuf "can not interpret unicode character")
 
 let text lexbuf s =
-  let b = Buffer.create (String.length s) in
+  let l = String.length s in
+  let b = Buffer.create l in
   let i = ref 1 in
-  while !i < String.length s - 1 do
-    let bs = Utf8.encode [unicode lexbuf s i] in
+  while !i < l - 1 do
+    let bs = Utf8.encode [unicode lexbuf s i (utf8_decoder l)] in
     Buffer.add_substring b bs 0 (String.length bs)
   done;
   Buffer.contents b
diff --git a/test/run/conversions.as b/test/run/conversions.as
index cd1cf3c2021..60afd31f484 100644
--- a/test/run/conversions.as
+++ b/test/run/conversions.as
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ println(word32ToInt 4294967295); // == (-1) // 2**32 - 1
 
 assert(charToWord32 '\u{00}' == (0 : Word32));
 assert(charToWord32 '*' == (42 : Word32));
+assert(charToWord32 'П' == (1055 : Word32));
 assert(charToWord32 '\u{ffff}' == (65535 : Word32)); // 2**16 - 1
 assert(charToWord32 '\u{10ffff}' == (0x10FFFF : Word32));
 
diff --git a/test/run/literals.as b/test/run/literals.as
index 42060c4348f..b87c333bc96 100644
--- a/test/run/literals.as
+++ b/test/run/literals.as
@@ -6,4 +6,7 @@ let byte : Word8 = 0xFF : Word8;
 let short : Word16 = 0xFFFF : Word16;
 let word : Word32 = 0xFFFF_FFFF : Word32;
 let u = '\u{a34}';
+let gu = '🎸';
+let ru = "Приветствую, мир!\n";
 let s = "a \t\22\00bb\'bc\\de \74xx\\x\"\u{000_234_42}\n";
+let emojis = "🙈🎸😋";