diff --git a/base/cmd.jl b/base/cmd.jl
index da29c732c7f26..0e4ec119109f1 100644
--- a/base/cmd.jl
+++ b/base/cmd.jl
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ struct Cmd <: AbstractCmd
     env::Union{Vector{String},Nothing}
     dir::String
     cpus::Union{Nothing,Vector{UInt16}}
-    Cmd(exec::Vector{String}) =
+    Cmd(exec::Vector{<:AbstractString}) =
         new(exec, false, 0x00, nothing, "", nothing)
     Cmd(cmd::Cmd, ignorestatus, flags, env, dir, cpus = nothing) =
         new(cmd.exec, ignorestatus, flags, env,
diff --git a/test/spawn.jl b/test/spawn.jl
index 4ae4b3368bef6..9d58b32976357 100644
--- a/test/spawn.jl
+++ b/test/spawn.jl
@@ -1032,3 +1032,10 @@ let effects = Base.infer_effects(x -> `a $x`, (Any,))
     @test !Core.Compiler.is_noub(effects)
     @test !Core.Compiler.is_consistent(effects)
 end
+
+# Test that Cmd accepts various AbstractStrings
+@testset "AbstractStrings" begin
+    args = split("-l /tmp")
+    @assert eltype(args) != String
+    @test Cmd(["ls", args...]) == `ls -l /tmp`
+end