diff --git a/rc/base/markdown.kak b/rc/base/markdown.kak
index 7b42d580..d7dc65e2 100644
--- a/rc/base/markdown.kak
+++ b/rc/base/markdown.kak
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ hook global BufCreate .*[.](markdown|md|mkd) %{
 
 add-highlighter shared/markdown regions
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content default-region group
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/code region ``` ``` fill meta
 
 evaluate-commands %sh{
   languages="
@@ -23,13 +22,19 @@ evaluate-commands %sh{
     sass scala scss sh swift tupfile typescript yaml
   "
   for lang in ${languages}; do
-    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s region ```\h*%s\\b   ``` regions\n' "${lang}" "${lang}"
+    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s region -match-capture ^(\h*)```\h*%s\\b   ^(\h*)``` regions\n' "${lang}" "${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/ default-region fill meta\n' "${lang}"
     [ "${lang}" = kak ] && ref=kakrc || ref="${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/inner region \A```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${ref}"
   done
 }
 
+add-highlighter shared/markdown/codeblock region -match-capture \
+    ^(\h*)```\h* \
+    ^(\h*)```\h*$ \
+    fill meta
+add-highlighter shared/markdown/codespan region -match-capture (`+) (`+) fill mono
+
 # Setext-style header
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex (\A|\n\n)[^\n]+\n={2,}\h*\n\h*$ 0:title
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex (\A|\n\n)[^\n]+\n-{2,}\h*\n\h*$ 0:header
@@ -39,12 +44,10 @@ add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex ^(#+)(\h+)([^\n]+) 1:header
 
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex ^\h?((?:[\s\t]+)?[-\*])\h+[^\n]*(\n\h+[^-\*]\S+[^\n]*\n)*$ 0:list 1:bullet
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex \B\+[^\n]+?\+\B 0:mono
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex [^`](`([^\s`]|([^\s`](\n?[^\n`])*[^\s`]))`)[^`] 1:mono
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex [^`](``([^\s`]|([^\s`](\n?[^\n`])*[^\s`]))``)[^`] 1:mono
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex [^*](\*([^\s*]|([^\s*](\n?[^\n*])*[^\s*]))\*)[^*] 1:italic
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex [^_](_([^\s_]|([^\s_](\n?[^\n_])*[^\s_]))_)[^_] 1:italic
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex [^*](\*\*([^\s*]|([^\s*](\n?[^\n*])*[^\s*]))\*\*)[^*] 1:bold
-add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex [^_](__([^\s_]|([^\s_](\n?[^\n_])*[^\s_]))__)[^_] 1:bold
+add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex (?<!\*)(\*([^\s*]|([^\s*](\n?[^\n*])*[^\s*]))\*)(?!\*) 1:italic
+add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex (?<!_)(_([^\s_]|([^\s_](\n?[^\n_])*[^\s_]))_)(?!_) 1:italic
+add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex (?<!\*)(\*\*([^\s*]|([^\s*](\n?[^\n*])*[^\s*]))\*\*)(?!\*) 1:bold
+add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex (?<!_)(__([^\s_]|([^\s_](\n?[^\n_])*[^\s_]))__)(?!_) 1:bold
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex <(([a-z]+://.*?)|((mailto:)?[\w+-]+@[a-z]+[.][a-z]+))> 0:link
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex ^\[[^\]\n]*\]:\h*([^\n]*) 1:link
 add-highlighter shared/markdown/content/ regex ^\h*(>\h*)+ 0:comment