diff --git a/components/prism-markdown.js b/components/prism-markdown.js
index 6b3bd5c850..7b8f05d0b5 100644
--- a/components/prism-markdown.js
+++ b/components/prism-markdown.js
@@ -350,15 +350,66 @@
 				});
 			}
 		} else {
-			// get the textContent of the given env HTML
-			var tempContainer = document.createElement('div');
-			tempContainer.innerHTML = env.content;
-			var code = tempContainer.textContent;
-
-			env.content = Prism.highlight(code, grammar, codeLang);
+			env.content = Prism.highlight(textContent(env.content), grammar, codeLang);
 		}
 	});
 
+	var tagPattern = RegExp(Prism.languages.markup.tag.pattern.source, 'gi');
+
+	/**
+	 * A list of known entity names.
+	 *
+	 * This will always be incomplete to save space. The current list is the one used by lowdash's unescape function.
+	 *
+	 * @see {@link https://github.com/lodash/lodash/blob/2da024c3b4f9947a48517639de7560457cd4ec6c/unescape.js#L2}
+	 */
+	var KNOWN_ENTITY_NAMES = {
+		'amp': '&',
+		'lt': '<',
+		'gt': '>',
+		'quot': '"',
+	};
+
+	// IE 11 doesn't support `String.fromCodePoint`
+	var fromCodePoint = String.fromCodePoint || String.fromCharCode;
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the text content of a given HTML source code string.
+	 *
+	 * @param {string} html
+	 * @returns {string}
+	 */
+	function textContent(html) {
+		// remove all tags
+		var text = html.replace(tagPattern, '');
+
+		// decode known entities
+		text = text.replace(/&(\w{1,8}|#x?[\da-f]{1,8});/gi, function (m, code) {
+			code = code.toLowerCase();
+
+			if (code[0] === '#') {
+				var value;
+				if (code[1] === 'x') {
+					value = parseInt(code.slice(2), 16);
+				} else {
+					value = Number(code.slice(1));
+				}
+
+				return fromCodePoint(value);
+			} else {
+				var known = KNOWN_ENTITY_NAMES[code];
+				if (known) {
+					return known;
+				}
+
+				// unable to decode
+				return m;
+			}
+		});
+
+		return text;
+	}
+
 	Prism.languages.md = Prism.languages.markdown;
 
 }(Prism));
diff --git a/components/prism-markdown.min.js b/components/prism-markdown.min.js
index 037af8b933..b247aa9b57 100644
--- a/components/prism-markdown.min.js
+++ b/components/prism-markdown.min.js
@@ -1 +1 @@
-!function(p){function n(n){return n=n.replace(/<inner>/g,function(){return"(?:\\\\.|[^\\\\\n\r]|(?:\n|\r\n?)(?![\r\n]))"}),RegExp("((?:^|[^\\\\])(?:\\\\{2})*)(?:"+n+")")}var e="(?:\\\\.|``(?:[^`\r\n]|`(?!`))+``|`[^`\r\n]+`|[^\\\\|\r\n`])+",t="\\|?__(?:\\|__)+\\|?(?:(?:\n|\r\n?)|(?![^]))".replace(/__/g,function(){return e}),a="\\|?[ \t]*:?-{3,}:?[ \t]*(?:\\|[ \t]*:?-{3,}:?[ \t]*)+\\|?(?:\n|\r\n?)";p.languages.markdown=p.languages.extend("markup",{}),p.languages.insertBefore("markdown","prolog",{"front-matter-block":{pattern:/(^(?:\s*[\r\n])?)---(?!.)[\s\S]*?[\r\n]---(?!.)/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^---|---$/,"font-matter":{pattern:/\S+(?:\s+\S+)*/,alias:["yaml","language-yaml"],inside:p.languages.yaml}}},blockquote:{pattern:/^>(?:[\t ]*>)*/m,alias:"punctuation"},table:{pattern:RegExp("^"+t+a+"(?:"+t+")*","m"),inside:{"table-data-rows":{pattern:RegExp("^("+t+a+")(?:"+t+")*$"),lookbehind:!0,inside:{"table-data":{pattern:RegExp(e),inside:p.languages.markdown},punctuation:/\|/}},"table-line":{pattern:RegExp("^("+t+")"+a+"$"),lookbehind:!0,inside:{punctuation:/\||:?-{3,}:?/}},"table-header-row":{pattern:RegExp("^"+t+"$"),inside:{"table-header":{pattern:RegExp(e),alias:"important",inside:p.languages.markdown},punctuation:/\|/}}}},code:[{pattern:/((?:^|\n)[ \t]*\n|(?:^|\r\n?)[ \t]*\r\n?)(?: {4}|\t).+(?:(?:\n|\r\n?)(?: {4}|\t).+)*/,lookbehind:!0,alias:"keyword"},{pattern:/^```[\s\S]*?^```$/m,greedy:!0,inside:{"code-block":{pattern:/^(```.*(?:\n|\r\n?))[\s\S]+?(?=(?:\n|\r\n?)^```$)/m,lookbehind:!0},"code-language":{pattern:/^(```).+/,lookbehind:!0},punctuation:/```/}}],title:[{pattern:/\S.*(?:\n|\r\n?)(?:==+|--+)(?=[ \t]*$)/m,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/==+$|--+$/}},{pattern:/(^\s*)#.+/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/^#+|#+$/}}],hr:{pattern:/(^\s*)([*-])(?:[\t ]*\2){2,}(?=\s*$)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},list:{pattern:/(^\s*)(?:[*+-]|\d+\.)(?=[\t ].)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},"url-reference":{pattern:/!?\[[^\]]+\]:[\t ]+(?:\S+|<(?:\\.|[^>\\])+>)(?:[\t ]+(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\)))?/,inside:{variable:{pattern:/^(!?\[)[^\]]+/,lookbehind:!0},string:/(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\))$/,punctuation:/^[\[\]!:]|[<>]/},alias:"url"},bold:{pattern:n("\\b__(?:(?!_)<inner>|_(?:(?!_)<inner>)+_)+__\\b|\\*\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>|\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>)+\\*)+\\*\\*"),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{content:{pattern:/(^..)[\s\S]+(?=..$)/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},punctuation:/\*\*|__/}},italic:{pattern:n("\\b_(?:(?!_)<inner>|__(?:(?!_)<inner>)+__)+_\\b|\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>|\\*\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>)+\\*\\*)+\\*"),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{content:{pattern:/(^.)[\s\S]+(?=.$)/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},punctuation:/[*_]/}},strike:{pattern:n("(~~?)(?:(?!~)<inner>)+\\2"),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{content:{pattern:/(^~~?)[\s\S]+(?=\1$)/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},punctuation:/~~?/}},"code-snippet":{pattern:/(^|[^\\`])(?:``[^`\r\n]+(?:`[^`\r\n]+)*``(?!`)|`[^`\r\n]+`(?!`))/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,alias:["code","keyword"]},url:{pattern:n('!?\\[(?:(?!\\])<inner>)+\\](?:\\([^\\s)]+(?:[\t ]+"(?:\\\\.|[^"\\\\])*")?\\)|[ \t]?\\[(?:(?!\\])<inner>)+\\])'),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{operator:/^!/,content:{pattern:/(^\[)[^\]]+(?=\])/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},variable:{pattern:/(^\][ \t]?\[)[^\]]+(?=\]$)/,lookbehind:!0},url:{pattern:/(^\]\()[^\s)]+/,lookbehind:!0},string:{pattern:/(^[ \t]+)"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"(?=\)$)/,lookbehind:!0}}}}),["url","bold","italic","strike"].forEach(function(e){["url","bold","italic","strike","code-snippet"].forEach(function(n){e!==n&&(p.languages.markdown[e].inside.content.inside[n]=p.languages.markdown[n])})}),p.hooks.add("after-tokenize",function(n){"markdown"!==n.language&&"md"!==n.language||!function n(e){if(e&&"string"!=typeof e)for(var t=0,a=e.length;t<a;t++){var i=e[t];if("code"===i.type){var r=i.content[1],o=i.content[3];if(r&&o&&"code-language"===r.type&&"code-block"===o.type&&"string"==typeof r.content){var l=r.content.replace(/\b#/g,"sharp").replace(/\b\+\+/g,"pp"),d="language-"+(l=(/[a-z][\w-]*/i.exec(l)||[""])[0].toLowerCase());o.alias?"string"==typeof o.alias?o.alias=[o.alias,d]:o.alias.push(d):o.alias=[d]}}else n(i.content)}}(n.tokens)}),p.hooks.add("wrap",function(n){if("code-block"===n.type){for(var e="",t=0,a=n.classes.length;t<a;t++){var i=n.classes[t],r=/language-(.+)/.exec(i);if(r){e=r[1];break}}var o=p.languages[e];if(o){var l=document.createElement("div");l.innerHTML=n.content;var d=l.textContent;n.content=p.highlight(d,o,e)}else if(e&&"none"!==e&&p.plugins.autoloader){var s="md-"+(new Date).valueOf()+"-"+Math.floor(1e16*Math.random());n.attributes.id=s,p.plugins.autoloader.loadLanguages(e,function(){var n=document.getElementById(s);n&&(n.innerHTML=p.highlight(n.textContent,p.languages[e],e))})}}}),p.languages.md=p.languages.markdown}(Prism);
\ No newline at end of file
+!function(s){function n(n){return n=n.replace(/<inner>/g,function(){return"(?:\\\\.|[^\\\\\n\r]|(?:\n|\r\n?)(?![\r\n]))"}),RegExp("((?:^|[^\\\\])(?:\\\\{2})*)(?:"+n+")")}var e="(?:\\\\.|``(?:[^`\r\n]|`(?!`))+``|`[^`\r\n]+`|[^\\\\|\r\n`])+",t="\\|?__(?:\\|__)+\\|?(?:(?:\n|\r\n?)|(?![^]))".replace(/__/g,function(){return e}),a="\\|?[ \t]*:?-{3,}:?[ \t]*(?:\\|[ \t]*:?-{3,}:?[ \t]*)+\\|?(?:\n|\r\n?)";s.languages.markdown=s.languages.extend("markup",{}),s.languages.insertBefore("markdown","prolog",{"front-matter-block":{pattern:/(^(?:\s*[\r\n])?)---(?!.)[\s\S]*?[\r\n]---(?!.)/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{punctuation:/^---|---$/,"font-matter":{pattern:/\S+(?:\s+\S+)*/,alias:["yaml","language-yaml"],inside:s.languages.yaml}}},blockquote:{pattern:/^>(?:[\t ]*>)*/m,alias:"punctuation"},table:{pattern:RegExp("^"+t+a+"(?:"+t+")*","m"),inside:{"table-data-rows":{pattern:RegExp("^("+t+a+")(?:"+t+")*$"),lookbehind:!0,inside:{"table-data":{pattern:RegExp(e),inside:s.languages.markdown},punctuation:/\|/}},"table-line":{pattern:RegExp("^("+t+")"+a+"$"),lookbehind:!0,inside:{punctuation:/\||:?-{3,}:?/}},"table-header-row":{pattern:RegExp("^"+t+"$"),inside:{"table-header":{pattern:RegExp(e),alias:"important",inside:s.languages.markdown},punctuation:/\|/}}}},code:[{pattern:/((?:^|\n)[ \t]*\n|(?:^|\r\n?)[ \t]*\r\n?)(?: {4}|\t).+(?:(?:\n|\r\n?)(?: {4}|\t).+)*/,lookbehind:!0,alias:"keyword"},{pattern:/^```[\s\S]*?^```$/m,greedy:!0,inside:{"code-block":{pattern:/^(```.*(?:\n|\r\n?))[\s\S]+?(?=(?:\n|\r\n?)^```$)/m,lookbehind:!0},"code-language":{pattern:/^(```).+/,lookbehind:!0},punctuation:/```/}}],title:[{pattern:/\S.*(?:\n|\r\n?)(?:==+|--+)(?=[ \t]*$)/m,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/==+$|--+$/}},{pattern:/(^\s*)#.+/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"important",inside:{punctuation:/^#+|#+$/}}],hr:{pattern:/(^\s*)([*-])(?:[\t ]*\2){2,}(?=\s*$)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},list:{pattern:/(^\s*)(?:[*+-]|\d+\.)(?=[\t ].)/m,lookbehind:!0,alias:"punctuation"},"url-reference":{pattern:/!?\[[^\]]+\]:[\t ]+(?:\S+|<(?:\\.|[^>\\])+>)(?:[\t ]+(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\)))?/,inside:{variable:{pattern:/^(!?\[)[^\]]+/,lookbehind:!0},string:/(?:"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|\((?:\\.|[^)\\])*\))$/,punctuation:/^[\[\]!:]|[<>]/},alias:"url"},bold:{pattern:n("\\b__(?:(?!_)<inner>|_(?:(?!_)<inner>)+_)+__\\b|\\*\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>|\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>)+\\*)+\\*\\*"),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{content:{pattern:/(^..)[\s\S]+(?=..$)/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},punctuation:/\*\*|__/}},italic:{pattern:n("\\b_(?:(?!_)<inner>|__(?:(?!_)<inner>)+__)+_\\b|\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>|\\*\\*(?:(?!\\*)<inner>)+\\*\\*)+\\*"),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{content:{pattern:/(^.)[\s\S]+(?=.$)/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},punctuation:/[*_]/}},strike:{pattern:n("(~~?)(?:(?!~)<inner>)+\\2"),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{content:{pattern:/(^~~?)[\s\S]+(?=\1$)/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},punctuation:/~~?/}},"code-snippet":{pattern:/(^|[^\\`])(?:``[^`\r\n]+(?:`[^`\r\n]+)*``(?!`)|`[^`\r\n]+`(?!`))/,lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,alias:["code","keyword"]},url:{pattern:n('!?\\[(?:(?!\\])<inner>)+\\](?:\\([^\\s)]+(?:[\t ]+"(?:\\\\.|[^"\\\\])*")?\\)|[ \t]?\\[(?:(?!\\])<inner>)+\\])'),lookbehind:!0,greedy:!0,inside:{operator:/^!/,content:{pattern:/(^\[)[^\]]+(?=\])/,lookbehind:!0,inside:{}},variable:{pattern:/(^\][ \t]?\[)[^\]]+(?=\]$)/,lookbehind:!0},url:{pattern:/(^\]\()[^\s)]+/,lookbehind:!0},string:{pattern:/(^[ \t]+)"(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"(?=\)$)/,lookbehind:!0}}}}),["url","bold","italic","strike"].forEach(function(e){["url","bold","italic","strike","code-snippet"].forEach(function(n){e!==n&&(s.languages.markdown[e].inside.content.inside[n]=s.languages.markdown[n])})}),s.hooks.add("after-tokenize",function(n){"markdown"!==n.language&&"md"!==n.language||!function n(e){if(e&&"string"!=typeof e)for(var t=0,a=e.length;t<a;t++){var r=e[t];if("code"===r.type){var i=r.content[1],o=r.content[3];if(i&&o&&"code-language"===i.type&&"code-block"===o.type&&"string"==typeof i.content){var l=i.content.replace(/\b#/g,"sharp").replace(/\b\+\+/g,"pp"),s="language-"+(l=(/[a-z][\w-]*/i.exec(l)||[""])[0].toLowerCase());o.alias?"string"==typeof o.alias?o.alias=[o.alias,s]:o.alias.push(s):o.alias=[s]}}else n(r.content)}}(n.tokens)}),s.hooks.add("wrap",function(n){if("code-block"===n.type){for(var e="",t=0,a=n.classes.length;t<a;t++){var r=n.classes[t],i=/language-(.+)/.exec(r);if(i){e=i[1];break}}var o=s.languages[e];if(o)n.content=s.highlight(function(n){var e=n.replace(d,"");return e=e.replace(/&(\w{1,8}|#x?[\da-f]{1,8});/gi,function(n,e){var t;if("#"===(e=e.toLowerCase())[0])return t="x"===e[1]?parseInt(e.slice(2),16):Number(e.slice(1)),u(t);var a=p[e];return a||n})}(n.content),o,e);else if(e&&"none"!==e&&s.plugins.autoloader){var l="md-"+(new Date).valueOf()+"-"+Math.floor(1e16*Math.random());n.attributes.id=l,s.plugins.autoloader.loadLanguages(e,function(){var n=document.getElementById(l);n&&(n.innerHTML=s.highlight(n.textContent,s.languages[e],e))})}}});var d=RegExp(s.languages.markup.tag.pattern.source,"gi"),p={amp:"&",lt:"<",gt:">",quot:'"'},u=String.fromCodePoint||String.fromCharCode;s.languages.md=s.languages.markdown}(Prism);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/languages/markdown/code-block_feature.js b/tests/languages/markdown/code-block_feature.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e879cfa80e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/languages/markdown/code-block_feature.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+module.exports = {
+	'```html\n<a href="#foo">Click me!</a> &amp;\n```\n': '<span class="token code"><span class="token punctuation">```</span><span class="token code-language">html</span>\n<span class="token code-block language-html"><span class="token tag"><span class="token tag"><span class="token punctuation">&lt;</span>a</span> <span class="token attr-name">href</span><span class="token attr-value"><span class="token punctuation attr-equals">=</span><span class="token punctuation">"</span>#foo<span class="token punctuation">"</span></span><span class="token punctuation">></span></span>Click me!<span class="token tag"><span class="token tag"><span class="token punctuation">&lt;/</span>a</span><span class="token punctuation">></span></span> <span class="token entity named-entity" title="&amp;">&amp;amp;</span></span>\n<span class="token punctuation">```</span></span>\n',
+
+	'```unknownLanguage\n<a href="#foo">Click me!</a> &amp;\n```\n': '<span class="token code"><span class="token punctuation">```</span><span class="token code-language">unknownLanguage</span>\n<span class="token code-block language-unknownlanguage">&lt;a href="#foo">Click me!&lt;/a> &amp;amp;</span>\n<span class="token punctuation">```</span></span>\n',
+};