diff --git a/lib/libncurses/termcap.c b/lib/libncurses/termcap.c
index 0d98d7e78624..24e71d302df5 100644
--- a/lib/libncurses/termcap.c
+++ b/lib/libncurses/termcap.c
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ _nc_read_termcap_entry(const char *const name, TERMTYPE *const tp)
 		tcs = pd - 1;
 		for (;;) {
 			while ((tok = strsep(&ps, ":")) != NULL &&
+			       *(tok - 2) != '\\' &&
 			       (*tok == '\0' || *tok == '\\' || !isgraph(*tok)))
 				;
 			if (tok == NULL)
diff --git a/lib/ncurses/ncurses/termcap.c b/lib/ncurses/ncurses/termcap.c
index 0d98d7e78624..24e71d302df5 100644
--- a/lib/ncurses/ncurses/termcap.c
+++ b/lib/ncurses/ncurses/termcap.c
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ _nc_read_termcap_entry(const char *const name, TERMTYPE *const tp)
 		tcs = pd - 1;
 		for (;;) {
 			while ((tok = strsep(&ps, ":")) != NULL &&
+			       *(tok - 2) != '\\' &&
 			       (*tok == '\0' || *tok == '\\' || !isgraph(*tok)))
 				;
 			if (tok == NULL)
diff --git a/share/termcap/termcap.5 b/share/termcap/termcap.5
index 432a42698e85..0f615e755dd7 100644
--- a/share/termcap/termcap.5
+++ b/share/termcap/termcap.5
@@ -817,8 +817,9 @@ and
 .Sy \&\e\e .
 If it is necessary to place a
 .Sy \&:
-in a capability it must be escaped in
-octal as
+in a capability it must be escaped as
+.Sy \e:
+or be encoded as
 .Sy \&\e072 .
 If it is necessary to place a
 .Dv NUL