diff --git a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
index a055d60e8acb21..fe86189ce68cb3 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ function strEscape(str) {
           continue;
         }
       }
-      result += `${StringPrototypeSlice(str, last, i)}${`\\u${point.toString(16)}`}`;
+      result += `${StringPrototypeSlice(str, last, i)}\\u${point.toString(16)}`;
       last = i + 1;
     }
   }