diff --git a/JavaScript/JavaScript.sublime-syntax b/JavaScript/JavaScript.sublime-syntax
index 7da551fe8f..8649005e42 100644
--- a/JavaScript/JavaScript.sublime-syntax
+++ b/JavaScript/JavaScript.sublime-syntax
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ file_extensions:
 first_line_match: ^#!/.*\b(node|js)$\n?
 scope: source.js
 variables:
-  identifier: '[_$a-zA-Z][$\w]*'
+  identifier: '[_$[:alpha:]][_$[:alnum:]]*'
   func_lookahead: '\s*\b(async\s+)?function\b'
-  arrow_func_lookahead: '\s*(\basync\s*)?([_$a-zA-Z][$\w]*|\(.*?\))\s*=>'
+  arrow_func_lookahead: '\s*(\basync\s*)?([_$[:alpha:]][_$[:alnum:]]*|\(.*?\))\s*=>'
 
 contexts:
   main:
diff --git a/JavaScript/syntax_test_js.js b/JavaScript/syntax_test_js.js
index d2a5a635d6..8169baf504 100644
--- a/JavaScript/syntax_test_js.js
+++ b/JavaScript/syntax_test_js.js
@@ -500,6 +500,9 @@ var result = 200 / 400 + 500 /
 //                           ^ keyword.operator.arithmetic
 100;
 
+var π = 3.141592653
+//  ^ variable.other.readwrite
+
 var angle = 2*π / count // angle between circles
 //              ^ keyword.operator.arithmetic