diff --git a/src/parse/patterns.js b/src/parse/patterns.js
index 313f40a46415..8fea930aa68e 100644
--- a/src/parse/patterns.js
+++ b/src/parse/patterns.js
@@ -1 +1 @@
-export const whitespace = /\s/;
+export const whitespace = /[ \t\r\n]/;
diff --git a/test/generator/nbsp/_config.js b/test/generator/nbsp/_config.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c09c14e7c413
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/generator/nbsp/_config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+export default {
+	html: `<span>&nbsp;</span>`,
+
+	test ( assert, component, target ) {
+		const text = target.querySelector( 'span' ).textContent;
+		assert.equal( text.charCodeAt( 0 ), 160 );
+	}
+};
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/generator/nbsp/main.html b/test/generator/nbsp/main.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..11cd588757a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/generator/nbsp/main.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<span>&nbsp;</span>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/parser/nbsp/input.html b/test/parser/nbsp/input.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..11cd588757a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parser/nbsp/input.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<span>&nbsp;</span>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/parser/nbsp/output.json b/test/parser/nbsp/output.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d8cbb594f6e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parser/nbsp/output.json
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+	"hash": 2678229240,
+	"html": {
+		"start": 0,
+		"end": 19,
+		"type": "Fragment",
+		"children": [
+			{
+				"start": 0,
+				"end": 19,
+				"type": "Element",
+				"name": "span",
+				"attributes": [],
+				"children": [
+					{
+						"start": 6,
+						"end": 12,
+						"type": "Text",
+						"data": " "
+					}
+				]
+			}
+		]
+	},
+	"css": null,
+	"js": null
+}
\ No newline at end of file