diff --git a/include/layout.inc b/include/layout.inc
index 17f76b8fd4..2f3f8207a6 100644
--- a/include/layout.inc
+++ b/include/layout.inc
@@ -47,6 +47,19 @@ function highlight_php_trimmed($code, $return = false)
     $highlighted_code = highlight_php($code, true);
     $highlighted_code = preg_replace("!&lt;\?php(<br />)+!", '', $highlighted_code, 1);
 
+    // add syntax highlighting for variables
+    $variableReplacer = function (array $matches) {
+        if ($matches[1] !== '') {
+            $replacement = '<span class="default">' . $matches[1] . '</span>';
+        } else {
+            $replacement = '';
+        }
+        return $replacement . '<span class="variable">' . $matches[2] . '</span>';
+    };
+
+    $pattern = '!<span class="default">([\w\s]*)(\$[a-zA-Z_\x80-\xff][a-zA-Z0-9_\x80-\xff]*\s*)</span>!';
+    $highlighted_code = preg_replace_callback($pattern, $variableReplacer, $highlighted_code);
+
     if ($return) { return $highlighted_code; }
     echo $highlighted_code;
     return null;
diff --git a/releases/8.5/release.inc b/releases/8.5/release.inc
index ee33e7769c..79578488da 100644
--- a/releases/8.5/release.inc
+++ b/releases/8.5/release.inc
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ final class PostsController
     )]
     public function update(
         Request $request,
-        Post $post
+        Post $post,
     ): Response {
         // ...
     }
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ final class PostsController
     })]
     public function update(
         Request $request,
-        Post $post
+        Post $post,
     ): Response {
         // ...
     }
diff --git a/styles/php85.css b/styles/php85.css
index d8523e91aa..4ac3708350 100644
--- a/styles/php85.css
+++ b/styles/php85.css
@@ -3564,6 +3564,11 @@ footer p:where(.dark,.dark *) {
     background-color: transparent;
 }
 
+.php85 .phpcode span.variable {
+    color: #7d55ba;
+    background-color: transparent;
+}
+
 .php85 .phpcode span.keyword {
     color: #07a;
     background-color: transparent;
@@ -3585,13 +3590,18 @@ footer p:where(.dark,.dark *) {
     background-color: transparent;
 }
 
+.dark .php85 .phpcode span.variable {
+    color: #a5d6ff;
+    background-color: transparent;
+}
+
 .dark .php85 .phpcode span.keyword {
     color: #ff7b72;
     background-color: transparent;
 }
 
 .dark .php85 .phpcode span.string {
-    color: #a5d6ff;
+    color: #80b83c;
     background-color: transparent;
 }
 
diff --git a/styles/theme-medium.css b/styles/theme-medium.css
index d171ea4c45..1f1b9d142f 100644
--- a/styles/theme-medium.css
+++ b/styles/theme-medium.css
@@ -832,7 +832,7 @@ div.warning a:focus {
   color: var(--dark-blue-color);
   background-color: transparent;
 }
-div.phpcode span.default {
+div.phpcode span.default, div.phpcode span.variable {
   color: #369;
   background-color: transparent;
 }