diff --git a/hy/lex/lexer.py b/hy/lex/lexer.py
index 9fe70467c..8716c8dc1 100755
--- a/hy/lex/lexer.py
+++ b/hy/lex/lexer.py
@@ -2,12 +2,23 @@
 # This file is part of Hy, which is free software licensed under the Expat
 # license. See the LICENSE.
 
-import re
+import regex
 from rply import LexerGenerator
+import rply.lexergenerator
 
 
 lg = LexerGenerator()
 
+class RegexRule(rply.lexergenerator.Rule):
+    """Like rply.lexergenerator.Rule, but uses the `regex` module instead
+    of Python's `re`."""
+    def __init__(self, name, pattern, flags=0):
+        self.name = name
+        self.re = regex.compile(pattern, flags=flags)
+def add(name, pattern, flags=0):
+    lg.rules.append(RegexRule(name, pattern, flags=flags))
+def ignore(pattern, flags=0):
+    lg.ignore_rules.append(RegexRule("", pattern, flags=flags))
 
 # A regexp for something that should end a quoting/unquoting operator
 # i.e. a space or a closing brace/paren/curly
@@ -21,26 +32,26 @@
   # BidiBrackets.txt
   ("(", ")"), ("[", "]"), ("{", "}"), ("༺", "༻"), ("༼", "༽"), ("᚛", "᚜"), ("⁅", "⁆"), ("⁽", "⁾"), ("₍", "₎"), ("⌈", "⌉"), ("⌊", "⌋"), ("〈", "〉"), ("❨", "❩"), ("❪", "❫"), ("❬", "❭"), ("❮", "❯"), ("❰", "❱"), ("❲", "❳"), ("❴", "❵"), ("⟅", "⟆"), ("⟦", "⟧"), ("⟨", "⟩"), ("⟪", "⟫"), ("⟬", "⟭"), ("⟮", "⟯"), ("⦃", "⦄"), ("⦅", "⦆"), ("⦇", "⦈"), ("⦉", "⦊"), ("⦋", "⦌"), ("⦍", "⦐"), ("⦏", "⦎"), ("⦑", "⦒"), ("⦓", "⦔"), ("⦕", "⦖"), ("⦗", "⦘"), ("⧘", "⧙"), ("⧚", "⧛"), ("⧼", "⧽"), ("⸢", "⸣"), ("⸤", "⸥"), ("⸦", "⸧"), ("⸨", "⸩"), ("〈", "〉"), ("《", "》"), ("「", "」"), ("『", "』"), ("【", "】"), ("〔", "〕"), ("〖", "〗"), ("〘", "〙"), ("〚", "〛"), ("﹙", "﹚"), ("﹛", "﹜"), ("﹝", "﹞"), ("（", "）"), ("［", "］"), ("｛", "｝"), ("｟", "｠"), ("｢", "｣"))  # noqa
 
-lg.add('LPAREN', r'\(')
-lg.add('RPAREN', r'\)')
-lg.add('LBRACKET', r'\[')
-lg.add('RBRACKET', r'\]')
-lg.add('LCURLY', r'\{')
-lg.add('RCURLY', r'\}')
-lg.add('HLCURLY', r'#\{')
-lg.add('QUOTE', r'\'%s' % end_quote)
-lg.add('QUASIQUOTE', r'`%s' % end_quote)
-lg.add('UNQUOTESPLICE', r'~@%s' % end_quote)
-lg.add('UNQUOTE', r'~%s' % end_quote)
-lg.add('HASHBANG', r'#!.*[^\r\n]')
+add('LPAREN', r'\(')
+add('RPAREN', r'\)')
+add('LBRACKET', r'\[')
+add('RBRACKET', r'\]')
+add('LCURLY', r'\{')
+add('RCURLY', r'\}')
+add('HLCURLY', r'#\{')
+add('QUOTE', r'\'%s' % end_quote)
+add('QUASIQUOTE', r'`%s' % end_quote)
+add('UNQUOTESPLICE', r'~@%s' % end_quote)
+add('UNQUOTE', r'~%s' % end_quote)
+add('HASHBANG', r'#!.*[^\r\n]')
 
 for opener, closer in hashstring_paired_delims:
-    lg.add('HASHSTRING', r'#q{}(?:.|\n)*?{}'.format(
-        re.escape(opener), re.escape(closer)))
-lg.add('HASHSTRING', r'#q([^{}])(?:.|\n)*?\1'.format(''.join(
-    re.escape(opener) for opener, _ in hashstring_paired_delims)))
+    add('HASHSTRING', r'#q{}(?:.|\n)*?{}'.format(
+        regex.escape(opener), regex.escape(closer)))
+add('HASHSTRING', r'#q([^{}])(?:.|\n)*?\1'.format(''.join(
+    regex.escape(opener) for opener, _ in hashstring_paired_delims)))
 
-lg.add('HASHOTHER', r'#%s' % identifier)
+add('HASHOTHER', r'#%s' % identifier)
 
 # A regexp which matches incomplete strings, used to support
 # multi-line strings in the interpreter
@@ -56,14 +67,14 @@
     )* # one or more times
 '''
 
-lg.add('STRING', r'%s"' % partial_string)
-lg.add('PARTIAL_STRING', partial_string)
+add('STRING', r'%s"' % partial_string)
+add('PARTIAL_STRING', partial_string)
 
-lg.add('IDENTIFIER', identifier)
+add('IDENTIFIER', identifier)
 
 
-lg.ignore(r';.*(?=\r|\n|$)')
-lg.ignore(r'\s+')
+ignore(r';.*(?=\r|\n|$)')
+ignore(r'\s+')
 
 
 lexer = lg.build()