diff --git a/Lib/_pyrepl/input.py b/Lib/_pyrepl/input.py
index 21c24eb5cde3e3..f5957113744a60 100644
--- a/Lib/_pyrepl/input.py
+++ b/Lib/_pyrepl/input.py
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def push(self, evt):
             if d is None:
                 if self.verbose:
                     print("invalid")
-                if self.stack or len(key) > 1 or unicodedata.category(key) == "C":
+                if self.stack or len(key) > 1 or unicodedata.category(key).startswith("C"):
                     self.results.append((self.invalid_cls, self.stack + [key]))
                 else:
                     # small optimization: