diff --git a/src/languages/markdown.js b/src/languages/markdown.js
index e3439c2c77..0219cdc3a8 100644
--- a/src/languages/markdown.js
+++ b/src/languages/markdown.js
@@ -54,13 +54,13 @@ function(hljs) {
         className: 'code',
         variants: [
           {
-            begin: '^```\w*\s*$', end: '^```\s*$'
+            begin: '^```\\w*\\s*$', end: '^```[ ]*$'
           },
           {
             begin: '`.+?`'
           },
           {
-            begin: '^( {4}|\t)', end: '$',
+            begin: '^( {4}|\\t)', end: '$',
             relevance: 0
           }
         ]