diff --git a/xapian-core/queryparser/termgenerator_internal.cc b/xapian-core/queryparser/termgenerator_internal.cc
index 9d8b85bcfd2e..ea2873a70566 100644
--- a/xapian-core/queryparser/termgenerator_internal.cc
+++ b/xapian-core/queryparser/termgenerator_internal.cc
@@ -760,8 +760,11 @@ MSet::Internal::snippet(const string & text,
 			const string & omit) const
 {
     if (hi_start.empty() && hi_end.empty() && text.size() <= length) {
-	// Too easy!
-	return text;
+	// The text is already short enough so we just need to perform
+	// escaping.
+	string output;
+	append_escaping_xml(text.data(), text.data() + text.size(), output);
+	return output;
     }
 
     bool try_word_break = (flags & MSet::SNIPPET_CJK_NGRAM);
diff --git a/xapian-core/tests/api_snippets.cc b/xapian-core/tests/api_snippets.cc
index 3de138e50db1..9ca52aa3eee6 100644
--- a/xapian-core/tests/api_snippets.cc
+++ b/xapian-core/tests/api_snippets.cc
@@ -349,6 +349,13 @@ DEFINE_TESTCASE(snippet_start_nonspace, backend) {
     TEST_STRINGS_EQUAL(mset.snippet(input, 12, stem),
 		       "...&lt;<b>foo</b>.h&gt; to...");
 
+    // Check escaping still happens without highlighting when the text is
+    // already short enough.  Regression test for bug fixed in 1.4.32 and
+    // 2.0.1.
+    input = "<foo> &amp;";
+    TEST_STRINGS_EQUAL(mset.snippet(input, 12, stem, 0, "", ""),
+		       "&lt;foo&gt; &amp;amp;");
+
     input = "¡foo!";
     TEST_STRINGS_EQUAL(mset.snippet(input, strlen(input), stem),
 		       "¡<b>foo</b>!");
@@ -455,6 +462,14 @@ DEFINE_TESTCASE(snippet_start_nonspace, backend) {
     input = "foo for 10¢";
     TEST_STRINGS_EQUAL(mset.snippet(input, strlen(input), stem),
 		       "<b>foo</b> for <b>10</b>¢");
+
+    // Check escaping still happens without highlighting when the text is
+    // already short enough.  Regression test for bug fixed in 1.4.32 and
+    // 2.0.1.
+    input = "&foo takes the address of foo";
+    TEST_STRINGS_EQUAL(mset.snippet(input, strlen(input), stem, 0, "", ""),
+		       "&amp;foo takes the address of foo");
+
 }
 
 /// Test snippets with small and zero length.