diff --git a/src/aggregation/bucket/term_agg.rs b/src/aggregation/bucket/term_agg.rs
index 7b33529509..fd04f3ed2b 100644
--- a/src/aggregation/bucket/term_agg.rs
+++ b/src/aggregation/bucket/term_agg.rs
@@ -554,6 +554,9 @@ impl SegmentTermCollector {
             if self.req.min_doc_count == 0 {
                 // TODO: Handle rev streaming for descending sorting by keys
                 let mut stream = term_dict.dictionary().stream()?;
+                let empty_sub_aggregation = IntermediateAggregationResults::empty_from_req(
+                    agg_with_accessor.agg.sub_aggregation(),
+                );
                 while let Some((key, _ord)) = stream.next() {
                     if dict.len() >= self.req.segment_size as usize {
                         break;
@@ -564,7 +567,12 @@ impl SegmentTermCollector {
                             .map_err(|utf8_err| DataCorruption::comment_only(utf8_err.to_string()))?
                             .to_string(),
                     );
-                    dict.entry(key).or_default();
+
+                    dict.entry(key.clone())
+                        .or_insert_with(|| IntermediateTermBucketEntry {
+                            doc_count: 0,
+                            sub_aggregation: empty_sub_aggregation.clone(),
+                        });
                 }
             }
         } else {
@@ -625,6 +633,9 @@ mod tests {
         get_test_index_from_terms, get_test_index_from_values_and_terms,
     };
     use crate::aggregation::AggregationLimits;
+    use crate::indexer::NoMergePolicy;
+    use crate::schema::{Schema, FAST, STRING};
+    use crate::Index;
 
     #[test]
     fn terms_aggregation_test_single_segment() -> crate::Result<()> {
@@ -1215,6 +1226,85 @@ mod tests {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn terms_aggregation_min_doc_count_special_case_with_sub_agg_empty_merge() -> crate::Result<()>
+    {
+        let mut schema_builder = Schema::builder();
+        let string_field_1 = schema_builder.add_text_field("string1", STRING | FAST);
+        let string_field_2 = schema_builder.add_text_field("string2", STRING | FAST);
+        let score_fieldtype = crate::schema::NumericOptions::default().set_fast();
+        let score_field = schema_builder.add_u64_field("score", score_fieldtype);
+        let index = Index::create_in_ram(schema_builder.build());
+        {
+            let mut index_writer = index.writer_with_num_threads(1, 20_000_000)?;
+            index_writer.set_merge_policy(Box::new(NoMergePolicy));
+            // writing the segment
+            index_writer.add_document(doc!(
+                string_field_1 => "A".to_string(),
+                string_field_2 => "hit".to_string(),
+                score_field => 1u64,
+            ))?;
+            index_writer.add_document(doc!(
+                string_field_1 => "B".to_string(),
+                string_field_2 => "nohit".to_string(), // this doc gets filtered in this segment,
+                                                       // but the term will still be loaded because
+                                                       // min_doc_count == 0
+                score_field => 2u64,
+            ))?;
+            index_writer.commit()?;
+
+            index_writer.add_document(doc!(
+                string_field_1 => "A".to_string(),
+                string_field_2 => "hit".to_string(),
+                score_field => 2u64,
+            ))?;
+            index_writer.add_document(doc!(
+                string_field_1 => "B".to_string(),
+                string_field_2 => "hit".to_string(),
+                score_field => 4u64,
+            ))?;
+            index_writer.commit()?;
+        }
+
+        let agg_req: Aggregations = serde_json::from_value(json!({
+            "my_texts": {
+                "terms": {
+                    "field": "string1",
+                    "min_doc_count": 0,
+                },
+                "aggs":{
+                    "elhistogram": {
+                        "histogram": {
+                            "field": "score",
+                            "interval": 1
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }))
+        .unwrap();
+
+        // searching for terma, but min_doc_count will return all terms
+        let res = exec_request_with_query(agg_req, &index, Some(("string2", "hit")))?;
+
+        assert_eq!(res["my_texts"]["buckets"][0]["key"], "A");
+        assert_eq!(res["my_texts"]["buckets"][0]["doc_count"], 2);
+        assert_eq!(
+            res["my_texts"]["buckets"][0]["elhistogram"]["buckets"],
+            json!([{ "doc_count": 1, "key": 1.0 }, { "doc_count": 1, "key": 2.0 } ])
+        );
+        assert_eq!(res["my_texts"]["buckets"][1]["key"], "B");
+        assert_eq!(res["my_texts"]["buckets"][1]["doc_count"], 1);
+        assert_eq!(
+            res["my_texts"]["buckets"][1]["elhistogram"]["buckets"],
+            json!([ { "doc_count": 1, "key": 4.0 } ])
+        );
+        assert_eq!(res["my_texts"]["sum_other_doc_count"], 0);
+        assert_eq!(res["my_texts"]["doc_count_error_upper_bound"], 0);
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn terms_aggregation_error_count_test() -> crate::Result<()> {
         let terms_per_segment = vec![