diff --git a/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/controller/kubectl/options.ts b/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/controller/kubectl/options.ts
index 34edaed2fba..0f0c7946323 100644
--- a/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/controller/kubectl/options.ts
+++ b/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/controller/kubectl/options.ts
@@ -195,7 +195,16 @@ export function hasLabel(args: Arguments<KubeOptions>) {
 /** @return the namespace as expressed in the command line, or undefined if not */
 export function getNamespaceAsExpressed(args: Pick<Arguments<KubeOptions>, 'parsedOptions'>): string {
   const ns = args.parsedOptions.n || args.parsedOptions.namespace
-  if (Array.isArray(ns)) {
+  if (!ns) {
+    // look for -nfoo, which yargs-parser doesn't handle very well
+    // this will show up as a parsedOption of { nfoo: true }
+    const maybeNs = Object.entries(args.parsedOptions).find(
+      ([key, value]) => value === true && key.length > 1 && key[0] === 'n'
+    )
+    if (maybeNs) {
+      return maybeNs[0].slice(1)
+    }
+  } else if (Array.isArray(ns)) {
     return ns[ns.length - 1]
   } else {
     return ns
diff --git a/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/test/k8s1/apply-pod.ts b/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/test/k8s1/apply-pod.ts
index 8d612ce6944..4bf6329a4c1 100644
--- a/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/test/k8s1/apply-pod.ts
+++ b/plugins/plugin-kubectl/src/test/k8s1/apply-pod.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ describe(`kubectl apply pod ${process.env.MOCHA_RUN_TARGET || ''}`, function(thi
   after(Common.after(this))
 
   const ns: string = createNS()
-  const inNamespace = `-n ${ns}`
+  const inNamespace = `-n${ns}`
+  // ^^^ intentionally no space between -n and ${ns} to cover #8992
 
   allocateNS(this, ns)