diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/nuspell/wrapper.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/nuspell/wrapper.nix
index ab09931579c..64108c33b7c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/nuspell/wrapper.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/nuspell/wrapper.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = (appendToName "with-dicts" nuspell).name;
   nativeBuildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
   buildCommand = ''
-    makeWrapper ${nuspell}/bin/nuspell $out/bin/nuspell --prefix DICPATH : ${searchPath}
+    makeWrapper ${nuspell}/bin/nuspell $out/bin/nuspell --prefix DICPATH : ${lib.escapeShellArg searchPath}
   '';
   meta = removeAttrs nuspell.meta ["outputsToInstall"];
 }