diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_describe_command.fish b/share/functions/__fish_describe_command.fish
index 43936c4be..d102f0e71 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_describe_command.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_describe_command.fish
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 #
 
 function __fish_describe_command -d "Command used to find descriptions for commands"
+    # We're going to try to build a regex out of $argv inside awk.
+    # Make sure $argv has no special characters.
+    # TODO: stop interpolating argv into regex, and remove this hack.
+    string match --quiet --regex '^[a-zA-Z0-9_ ]+$' -- "$argv"
+    or return
     apropos $argv 2>/dev/null | awk -v FS=" +- +" '{
 		split($1, names, ", ");
 		for (name in names)