diff --git a/src/rc/cpp.kak b/src/rc/cpp.kak
index ff5bead2..18a6e73b 100644
--- a/src/rc/cpp.kak
+++ b/src/rc/cpp.kak
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ hook global WinSetOption filetype=cpp %{
     addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "\<(void|int|char|unsigned|float|bool|size_t)\>" 0:type
     addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "\<(while|for|if|else|do|switch|case|default|goto|break|continue|return|using|try|catch|throw|new|delete|and|or|not)\>" 0:keyword
     addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "\<(const|auto|namespace|inline|static|volatile|class|struct|enum|union|public|protected|private|template|typedef|virtual|friend|extern|typename)\>" 0:attribute
-    addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "(?<!')\"(\\\"|[^\"])*\"" 0:string
+    addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "(?<!')\".*?(?<!\\)(\\\\)*\"" 0:string
     addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "(\`|(?<=\n))\h*#\h*[^\n]*" 0:macro
     addhl -group cpp-highlight regex "(//[^\n]*\n)|(/\*.*?(\*/|\'))" 0:comment
     addfilter group cpp-filters;