diff --git a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
index 2b6124f61105a1..ff59a05e0dfab9 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
@@ -1739,6 +1739,8 @@ function formatProperty(ctx, value, recurseTimes, key, type, desc,
   if (typeof key === 'symbol') {
     const tmp = key.toString().replace(strEscapeSequencesReplacer, escapeFn);
     name = `[${ctx.stylize(tmp, 'symbol')}]`;
+  } else if (key === '__proto__') {
+    name = "['__proto__']";
   } else if (desc.enumerable === false) {
     name = `[${key.replace(strEscapeSequencesReplacer, escapeFn)}]`;
   } else if (keyStrRegExp.test(key)) {
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
index 3435f2801b2644..ee67d2e79aec9a 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
@@ -3094,3 +3094,10 @@ assert.strictEqual(
     ']'
   );
 }
+
+{
+  assert.strictEqual(
+    util.inspect({ ['__proto__']: { a: 1 } }),
+    "{ ['__proto__']: { a: 1 } }"
+  );
+}