diff --git a/components/prism-markdown.js b/components/prism-markdown.js
index 5f2510dbfd..22c6a4b681 100644
--- a/components/prism-markdown.js
+++ b/components/prism-markdown.js
@@ -16,6 +16,24 @@ Prism.languages.insertBefore('markdown', 'prolog', {
 			// ``code``
 			pattern: /``.+?``|`[^`\n]+`/,
 			alias: 'keyword'
+		},
+		{
+			// ```optional language
+			// code block
+			// ```
+			pattern: /^```[\s\S]*?^```$/m,
+			greedy: true,
+			inside: {
+				'code-block': {
+					pattern: /^(```.*(?:\r?\n|\r))[\s\S]+?(?=(?:\r?\n|\r)^```$)/m,
+					lookbehind: true
+				},
+				'code-language': {
+					pattern: /^(```).+/,
+					lookbehind: true
+				},
+				'punctuation': /```/
+			}
 		}
 	],
 	'title': [
@@ -137,3 +155,73 @@ Prism.languages.markdown['italic'].inside['bold'] = Prism.languages.markdown['bo
 Prism.languages.markdown['italic'].inside['strike'] = Prism.languages.markdown['strike'];
 Prism.languages.markdown['strike'].inside['bold'] = Prism.languages.markdown['bold'];
 Prism.languages.markdown['strike'].inside['italic'] = Prism.languages.markdown['italic'];
+
+Prism.hooks.add('after-tokenize', function (env) {
+	if (env.language !== 'markdown') {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	function walkTokens(tokens) {
+		if (!tokens || typeof tokens === 'string') {
+			return;
+		}
+
+		for (var i = 0, l = tokens.length; i < l; i++) {
+			var token = tokens[i];
+
+			if (token.type !== 'code') {
+				walkTokens(token.content);
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			var codeLang = token.content[1];
+			var codeBlock = token.content[3];
+
+			if (codeLang && codeBlock &&
+				codeLang.type === 'code-language' && codeBlock.type === 'code-block' &&
+				typeof codeLang.content === 'string') {
+
+				// this might be a language that Prism does not support
+				var alias = 'language-' + codeLang.content.trim().split(/\s+/)[0].toLowerCase();
+
+				// add alias
+				if (!codeBlock.alias) {
+					codeBlock.alias = [alias];
+				} else if (typeof codeBlock.alias === 'string') {
+					codeBlock.alias = [codeBlock.alias, alias];
+				} else {
+					codeBlock.alias.push(alias);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	walkTokens(env.tokens);
+});
+
+Prism.hooks.add('wrap', function (env) {
+	if (env.type !== 'code-block') {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	var codeLang = '';
+	for (var i = 0, l = env.classes.length; i < l; i++) {
+		var cls = env.classes[i];
+		var match = /language-(\w+)/.exec(cls);
+		if (match) {
+			codeLang = match[1];
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	var grammar = Prism.languages[codeLang];
+
+	if (!grammar) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	// reverse Prism.util.encode
+	var code = env.content.replace(/&lt;/g, '<').replace(/&amp;/g, '&');
+
+	env.content = Prism.highlight(code, grammar, codeLang);
+});
diff --git a/components/prism-markdown.min.js b/components/prism-markdown.min.js
index 44b17fc9d8..b062e980f9 100644
--- a/components/prism-markdown.min.js
+++ b/components/prism-markdown.min.js
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Prism.languages.markdown=Prism.languages.extend("markup",{}),Prism.languages.insertBefore("markdown","prolog",{blockquote:{pattern:/^>(?:[\t ]*>)*/m,alias:"punctuation"},code:[{pattern:/^(?: {4}|\t).+/m,alias:"keyword"},{pattern:/``.+?``|`[^`\n]+`/,alias:"keyword"}],title:[{pattern:/\S.*(?:\r?\n|\r)(?:==+|--+)/,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/==+$|--+$/}},{pattern:/(^\s*)#+.+/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/^#+|#+$/}}],hr:{pattern:/(^\s*)([*-])(?:[\t ]*\2){2,}(?=\s*$)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},list:{pattern:/(^\s*)(?:[*+-]|\d+\.)(?=[\t ].)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},"url-reference":{pattern:/!?\[[^\]]+\]:[\t ]+(?:\S+|<(?:\\.|[^>\\])+>)(?:[\t ]+(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\)))?/,inside:{variable:{pattern:/^(!?\[)[^\]]+/,lookbehind:!0},string:/(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\))$/,punctuation:/^[\[\]!:]|[<>]/},alias:"url"},bold:{pattern:/(^|[^\\])(\*\*|__)(?:(?:\r?\n|\r)(?!\r?\n|\r)|.)+?\2/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^\*\*|^__|\*\*$|__$/}},italic:{pattern:/(^|[^\\])([*_])(?:(?:\r?\n|\r)(?!\r?\n|\r)|.)+?\2/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^[*_]|[*_]$/}},strike:{pattern:/(^|[^\\])(~~?)(?:(?:\r?\n|\r)(?!\r?\n|\r)|.)+?\2/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^~~?|~~?$/}},url:{pattern:/!?\[[^\]]+\](?:\([^\s)]+(?:[\t ]+"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*")?\)| ?\[[^\]\n]*\])/,inside:{variable:{pattern:/(!?\[)[^\]]+(?=\]$)/,lookbehind:!0},string:{pattern:/"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"(?=\)$)/}}}}),Prism.languages.markdown.bold.inside.url=Prism.languages.markdown.url,Prism.languages.markdown.italic.inside.url=Prism.languages.markdown.url,Prism.languages.markdown.strike.inside.url=Prism.languages.markdown.url,Prism.languages.markdown.bold.inside.italic=Prism.languages.markdown.italic,Prism.languages.markdown.bold.inside.strike=Prism.languages.markdown.strike,Prism.languages.markdown.italic.inside.bold=Prism.languages.markdown.bold,Prism.languages.markdown.italic.inside.strike=Prism.languages.markdown.strike,Prism.languages.markdown.strike.inside.bold=Prism.languages.markdown.bold,Prism.languages.markdown.strike.inside.italic=Prism.languages.markdown.italic;
\ No newline at end of file
+Prism.languages.markdown=Prism.languages.extend("markup",{}),Prism.languages.insertBefore("markdown","prolog",{blockquote:{pattern:/^>(?:[\t ]*>)*/m,alias:"punctuation"},code:[{pattern:/^(?: {4}|\t).+/m,alias:"keyword"},{pattern:/``.+?``|`[^`\n]+`/,alias:"keyword"},{pattern:/^```[\s\S]*?^```$/m,greedy:!0,inside:{"code-block":{pattern:/^(```.*(?:\r?\n|\r))[\s\S]+?(?=(?:\r?\n|\r)^```$)/m,lookbehind:!0},"code-language":{pattern:/^(```).+/,lookbehind:!0},punctuation:/```/}}],title:[{pattern:/\S.*(?:\r?\n|\r)(?:==+|--+)/,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/==+$|--+$/}},{pattern:/(^\s*)#+.+/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/^#+|#+$/}}],hr:{pattern:/(^\s*)([*-])(?:[\t ]*\2){2,}(?=\s*$)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},list:{pattern:/(^\s*)(?:[*+-]|\d+\.)(?=[\t ].)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},"url-reference":{pattern:/!?\[[^\]]+\]:[\t ]+(?:\S+|<(?:\\.|[^>\\])+>)(?:[\t ]+(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\)))?/,inside:{variable:{pattern:/^(!?\[)[^\]]+/,lookbehind:!0},string:/(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\))$/,punctuation:/^[\[\]!:]|[<>]/},alias:"url"},bold:{pattern:/(^|[^\\])(\*\*|__)(?:(?:\r?\n|\r)(?!\r?\n|\r)|.)+?\2/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^\*\*|^__|\*\*$|__$/}},italic:{pattern:/(^|[^\\])([*_])(?:(?:\r?\n|\r)(?!\r?\n|\r)|.)+?\2/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^[*_]|[*_]$/}},strike:{pattern:/(^|[^\\])(~~?)(?:(?:\r?\n|\r)(?!\r?\n|\r)|.)+?\2/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^~~?|~~?$/}},url:{pattern:/!?\[[^\]]+\](?:\([^\s)]+(?:[\t ]+"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*")?\)| ?\[[^\]\n]*\])/,inside:{variable:{pattern:/(!?\[)[^\]]+(?=\]$)/,lookbehind:!0},string:{pattern:/"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"(?=\)$)/}}}}),Prism.languages.markdown.bold.inside.url=Prism.languages.markdown.url,Prism.languages.markdown.italic.inside.url=Prism.languages.markdown.url,Prism.languages.markdown.strike.inside.url=Prism.languages.markdown.url,Prism.languages.markdown.bold.inside.italic=Prism.languages.markdown.italic,Prism.languages.markdown.bold.inside.strike=Prism.languages.markdown.strike,Prism.languages.markdown.italic.inside.bold=Prism.languages.markdown.bold,Prism.languages.markdown.italic.inside.strike=Prism.languages.markdown.strike,Prism.languages.markdown.strike.inside.bold=Prism.languages.markdown.bold,Prism.languages.markdown.strike.inside.italic=Prism.languages.markdown.italic,Prism.hooks.add("after-tokenize",function(a){function n(a){if(a&&"string"!=typeof a)for(var e=0,i=a.length;i>e;e++){var r=a[e];if("code"===r.type){var t=r.content[1],s=r.content[3];if(t&&s&&"code-language"===t.type&&"code-block"===s.type&&"string"==typeof t.content){var o="language-"+t.content.trim().split(/\s+/)[0].toLowerCase();s.alias?"string"==typeof s.alias?s.alias=[s.alias,o]:s.alias.push(o):s.alias=[o]}}else n(r.content)}}"markdown"===a.language&&n(a.tokens)}),Prism.hooks.add("wrap",function(a){if("code-block"===a.type){for(var n="",e=0,i=a.classes.length;i>e;e++){var r=a.classes[e],t=/language-(\w+)/.exec(r);if(t){n=t[1];break}}var s=Prism.languages[n];if(s){var o=a.content.replace(/&lt;/g,"<").replace(/&amp;/g,"&");a.content=Prism.highlight(o,s,n)}}});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/languages/markdown/code_feature.test b/tests/languages/markdown/code_feature.test
index 2696ca72e2..948c50920c 100644
--- a/tests/languages/markdown/code_feature.test
+++ b/tests/languages/markdown/code_feature.test
@@ -5,13 +5,24 @@
 
 	foobar
 
+``` js
+var a = 0;
+```
+
 ----------------------------------------------------
 
 [
 	["code", "`foo bar baz`"],
 	["code", "``foo `bar` baz``"],
 	["code", "    foobar"],
-	["code", "\tfoobar"]
+	["code", "\tfoobar"],
+
+	["code", [
+		["punctuation", "```"],
+		["code-language", " js"],
+		["code-block", "var a = 0;"],
+		["punctuation", "```"]
+	]]
 ]
 
 ----------------------------------------------------
@@ -19,4 +30,4 @@
 Checks for code blocks and inline code. The first code block is
 indented with 4 spaces, the second one is indented with 1 tab.
 The initial dot is necessary because of the first part being trimmed
-by the test runner.
\ No newline at end of file
+by the test runner.