2 files changed, 3 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index a8e251a1e7..c3e8e88889 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ Tests
 Tools/Demos
 -----------
 
+- Issue #20376: Argument Clinic now escapes backslashes in docstrings.
+
 - Issue #20381: Argument Clinic now sanity checks the default argument when
   c_default is also specified, providing a nice failure message for
   disallowed values.
diff --git a/Tools/clinic/clinic.py b/Tools/clinic/clinic.py
index d33abaed2a..7f1b059e80 100755
--- a/Tools/clinic/clinic.py
+++ b/Tools/clinic/clinic.py
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ def fail(*args, filename=None, line_number=None):
 
 def quoted_for_c_string(s):
     for old, new in (
+        ('\\', '\\\\'), # must be first!
         ('"', '\\"'),
         ("'", "\\'"),
         ):