diff --git a/packages/playground/optimize-deps/.hidden-dir/foo.js b/packages/playground/optimize-deps/.hidden-dir/foo.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e9a8526fe29870
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/playground/optimize-deps/.hidden-dir/foo.js
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export const greeting = 'hello!'
diff --git a/packages/playground/optimize-deps/__tests__/optimize-deps.spec.ts b/packages/playground/optimize-deps/__tests__/optimize-deps.spec.ts
index 33cd73fa18b67c..0a37ffc9df36be 100644
--- a/packages/playground/optimize-deps/__tests__/optimize-deps.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/optimize-deps/__tests__/optimize-deps.spec.ts
@@ -67,3 +67,7 @@ test('esbuild-plugin', async () => {
     isBuild ? `Hello from a package` : `Hello from an esbuild plugin`
   )
 })
+
+test('import from hidden dir', async () => {
+  expect(await page.textContent('.hidden-dir')).toBe('hello!')
+})
diff --git a/packages/playground/optimize-deps/index.html b/packages/playground/optimize-deps/index.html
index 7310ab759f4249..dc0345e6a6f482 100644
--- a/packages/playground/optimize-deps/index.html
+++ b/packages/playground/optimize-deps/index.html
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ <h2>Vue & Vuex</h2>
 <h2>Dep with changes from esbuild plugin</h2>
 <div>This should show a greeting: <span class="esbuild-plugin"></span></div>
 
+<h2>Dep from hidden dir</h2>
+<div>This should show hello!: <span class="hidden-dir"></span></div>
+
 <script type="module">
   // test dep detection in globbed files
   const globbed = import.meta.globEager('./glob/*.js')
@@ -69,6 +72,9 @@ <h2>Dep with changes from esbuild plugin</h2>
   import { hello } from 'dep-esbuild-plugin-transform'
   text('.esbuild-plugin', hello())
 
+  import { greeting } from './.hidden-dir/foo.js'
+  text('.hidden-dir', greeting)
+
   function text(el, text) {
     document.querySelector(el).textContent = text
   }
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/optimizer/esbuildDepPlugin.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/optimizer/esbuildDepPlugin.ts
index f4b52286817002..5db3a9fa8f05ce 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/optimizer/esbuildDepPlugin.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/optimizer/esbuildDepPlugin.ts
@@ -145,7 +145,11 @@ export function esbuildDepPlugin(
         const entryFile = qualified[id]
 
         let relativePath = normalizePath(path.relative(root, entryFile))
-        if (!relativePath.startsWith('.')) {
+        if (
+          !relativePath.startsWith('./') &&
+          !relativePath.startsWith('../') &&
+          relativePath !== '.'
+        ) {
           relativePath = `./${relativePath}`
         }