diff --git a/matcher/src/pattern.rs b/matcher/src/pattern.rs
index 0c554ba..e8ecdfa 100644
--- a/matcher/src/pattern.rs
+++ b/matcher/src/pattern.rs
@@ -171,8 +171,8 @@ impl Atom {
                 let mut saw_backslash = false;
                 for mut c in chars::graphemes(needle) {
                     if saw_backslash {
-                        if c == ' ' {
-                            needle_.push(' ');
+                        if c.is_whitespace() {
+                            needle_.push(c);
                             saw_backslash = false;
                             continue;
                         } else {
diff --git a/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs b/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs
index 88880ba..78a5fe0 100644
--- a/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs
+++ b/matcher/src/pattern/tests.rs
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ fn case_matching() {
 fn escape() {
     let pat = Atom::parse("foo\\ bar", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
     assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "foo bar");
+    // escaped double-width IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE
+    let pat = Atom::parse("foo\\　 bar", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
+    assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "foo bar");
     let pat = Atom::parse("\\!foo", CaseMatching::Smart, Normalization::Smart);
     assert_eq!(pat.needle.to_string(), "!foo");
     assert_eq!(pat.kind, AtomKind::Fuzzy);