diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5183352d..a0a5e6eb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -177,12 +177,13 @@ The following are equivalent:
 % abbr gcm git checkout master
 ```
 
-See [Delimiters](#delimiters) for details on what characters are legal in the ABBREVIATION.
+A `--` may optionally follow the last option.
 
-To include a hyphen (-) in an EXPANSION, wrap the EXPANSION in double quotation marks:
+The following are not allowed in the abbreviation: `;`, `||`, `&&`, and whitespace.
 
 ```shell
-abbr g- "git checkout -"
+abbr a\;b c # will error
+abbr 'a||b' c # will error
 ```
 
 Abbreviations can also be manually added to the `ZSH_ABBR_UNIVERSALS_FILE`.
@@ -408,30 +409,6 @@ bindkey "^A" _zsh_abbr_expand_space
 # load zsh-abbr
 ```
 
-### Delimiters
-
-By default, IFS whitespace and the characters comma (`,`), semicolon (`;`), pipe (`|`), ampersand (`&`) are ABBREVIATION-delimiting prefixes. That means that given the abbreviation `m my abbreviation` the following will expand:
-
-```shell
-% x,m[Space]
-% x;m[Space]
-% x|m[Space]
-% x&m[Space]
-% x[Space]m[Space]
-% x[Return]
-m[Space]
-% x[Tab]m[Space]
-```
-
-Accordingly, those characters are not legal in ABBREVIATIONs:
-
-```shell
-% abbr g\; test
-% g;[Space] # does not expand
-```
-
-If you want to customize the delimiting prefixes, set `ZSH_ABBR_DELIMITING_PREFIXES` to you custom match string in your `.zshrc` (can be before or after loading zsh-abbr; default is `'',;|&[:IFSSPACE:]'`).
-
 ## Uninstalling
 
 Delete the zsh-abbr configuration directory. Note that this will permanently delete the universal abbreviations file.
diff --git a/zsh-abbr.zsh b/zsh-abbr.zsh
index 629fab69..5f18105b 100755
--- a/zsh-abbr.zsh
+++ b/zsh-abbr.zsh
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@
 # add CTRL for normal SPACE/ENTER; in incremental search mode expand on CTRL+SPACE)
 ZSH_ABBR_DEFAULT_BINDINGS="${ZSH_ABBR_DEFAULT_BINDINGS=true}"
 
-# The non-whitespace characters which are considered a word break for purposes
-# of recognizing abbreviations.
-ZSH_ABBR_DELIMITING_PREFIXES="${ZSH_ABBR_DELIMITING_PREFIXES=',;|&[:IFSSPACE:]'}"
-
 # File abbreviations are stored in
 ZSH_ABBR_UNIVERSALS_FILE="${ZSH_ABBR_UNIVERSALS_FILE="${HOME}/.config/zsh/universal-abbreviations"}"
 
@@ -381,6 +377,12 @@ _zsh_abbr() {
       local abbreviation
       local expansion
       abbreviation="$1"
+
+      if [ $(util_contains_delimiters $abbreviation) = true ]; then
+        util_error " add: ABBREVIATION may not contain delimiting prefixes"
+        return
+      fi
+
       shift
       expansion="$*"
 
@@ -409,6 +411,16 @@ _zsh_abbr() {
       util_error ": Illegal combination of options"
     }
 
+    function util_contains_delimiters() {
+      local contains
+      contains=false
+      if [[ ${=1} != $(_zsh_abbr_last_word $1) ]]; then
+        contains=true
+      fi
+
+      echo "$contains"
+    }
+
     function util_error() {
       printf "abbr%s\\nFor help run abbr --help\\n" "$@"
       should_exit=true
@@ -662,6 +674,11 @@ _zsh_abbr_bind_widgets() {
   bindkey "^M" _zsh_abbr_expand_accept
 }
 
+_zsh_abbr_last_word() {
+  # delimited by `&&`, `|`, `;`, and whitespace
+  echo ${${1//*(\&\&|[;\|[:IFSSPACE:]])}}
+}
+
 _zsh_abbr_expand_accept() {
   zle _zsh_abbr_expand_widget
   zle autosuggest-clear # if using zsh-autosuggestions, clear any suggestion
@@ -717,7 +734,7 @@ _zsh_abbr_expand_widget() {
   local current_word
   local expansion
 
-  current_word="${LBUFFER/*[$ZSH_ABBR_DELIMITING_PREFIXES]/}"
+  current_word=$(_zsh_abbr_last_word "$LBUFFER")
   expansion=$(_zsh_abbr_expansion "$current_word")
 
   if [[ -n "$expansion" ]]; then