diff --git a/po/de.po b/po/de.po
index c89ddb22f..5f1176ccf 100644
--- a/po/de.po
+++ b/po/de.po
@@ -1187,9 +1187,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr "Ungültige Argumente"
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr "Ungültige Codepunkte werden von printf noch nicht unterstützt"
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr "Ungültiger Indexwert"
 
@@ -1292,6 +1289,10 @@ msgstr "Keine Funktion"
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr "Keine Zahl"
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr "Kein gültiges Unicodezeichen: %s"
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1638,10 +1639,6 @@ msgstr "Unerwartetes Stringende, eckige Klammern passen nicht"
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr "Unerwartetes Token"
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Unicodezeichen außerhalb des gültigen Bereichs: \\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "Unbekannt"
 
diff --git a/po/en.po b/po/en.po
index 626b35b88..410bf4c46 100644
--- a/po/en.po
+++ b/po/en.po
@@ -1185,9 +1185,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1290,6 +1287,10 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr ""
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1636,10 +1637,6 @@ msgstr "Unexpected end of string, square brackets do not match"
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr ""
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "Unknown"
 
diff --git a/po/fr.po b/po/fr.po
index 1b0ef73ed..4f1b521f4 100644
--- a/po/fr.po
+++ b/po/fr.po
@@ -1316,9 +1316,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1421,6 +1418,10 @@ msgstr "Pas une fonction"
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr ""
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1767,10 +1768,6 @@ msgstr "Fin de chaîne inattendue, les crochets ne sont pas refermés"
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr ""
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Caractère Unicode hors limite: \\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "Inconnu"
 
diff --git a/po/pl.po b/po/pl.po
index c7fe70ab3..8f06144fc 100644
--- a/po/pl.po
+++ b/po/pl.po
@@ -1181,9 +1181,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1286,6 +1283,10 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr ""
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1632,10 +1633,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr ""
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "Nieznany"
 
diff --git a/po/pt_BR.po b/po/pt_BR.po
index cd2e1d5e9..38cd39d36 100644
--- a/po/pt_BR.po
+++ b/po/pt_BR.po
@@ -1186,9 +1186,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1291,6 +1288,10 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr ""
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1637,10 +1638,6 @@ msgstr "Final inesperado de string, colchetes não batem"
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr ""
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Caracter Unicode fora dos limites: \\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "Desconhecido"
 
diff --git a/po/sv.po b/po/sv.po
index 0599993c3..a5c3d130a 100644
--- a/po/sv.po
+++ b/po/sv.po
@@ -1182,9 +1182,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr ""
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr ""
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1287,6 +1284,10 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr ""
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr ""
 
@@ -1633,10 +1634,6 @@ msgstr ""
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr ""
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Unicodetecken utanför giltigt spann: \\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "Okänd"
 
diff --git a/po/zh_CN.po b/po/zh_CN.po
index c15cd478f..63518c890 100644
--- a/po/zh_CN.po
+++ b/po/zh_CN.po
@@ -1211,9 +1211,6 @@ msgstr "主题监视器的内部细节"
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr "无效参数"
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr "尚未由 printf 支持的无效码点"
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr "无效索引值"
 
@@ -1316,6 +1313,10 @@ msgstr "不是一个函数"
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr "非数字"
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr "通用变量变更通知"
 
@@ -1662,10 +1663,6 @@ msgstr "字符串意外结束，方括号不匹配"
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr "意外的记号"
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Unicode 字符超出范围：\\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "未知"
 
diff --git a/po/zh_TW.po b/po/zh_TW.po
index ee2a6bd62..6e3ae8562 100644
--- a/po/zh_TW.po
+++ b/po/zh_TW.po
@@ -1185,9 +1185,6 @@ msgstr "主題監聽的內部資訊"
 msgid "Invalid arguments"
 msgstr "引數無效"
 
-msgid "Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"
-msgstr "printf 尚不支援無效的碼位"
-
 msgid "Invalid index value"
 msgstr "索引值無效"
 
@@ -1290,6 +1287,10 @@ msgstr "不是函式"
 msgid "Not a number"
 msgstr "不是數字"
 
+#, c-format
+msgid "Not a valid Unicode character: %s"
+msgstr ""
+
 msgid "Notifications about universal variable changes"
 msgstr "通域變數變更通知"
 
@@ -1637,10 +1638,6 @@ msgstr "非預期的字串結尾，中括弧不對稱"
 msgid "Unexpected token"
 msgstr "非預期的詞元"
 
-#, c-format
-msgid "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x"
-msgstr "Unicode 字元超出範圍：\\%c%0*x"
-
 msgid "Unknown"
 msgstr "未知"
 
diff --git a/src/builtins/printf.rs b/src/builtins/printf.rs
index f01a52e02..53f6b1be3 100644
--- a/src/builtins/printf.rs
+++ b/src/builtins/printf.rs
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 
 use super::prelude::*;
 use crate::locale::{Locale, get_numeric_locale};
-use crate::wchar::encode_byte_to_char;
+use crate::wchar::{decode_byte_from_char, encode_byte_to_char};
 use crate::wutil::{
     errors::Error,
     wcstod::wcstod,
@@ -665,20 +665,26 @@ fn print_esc(&mut self, escstart: &wstr, octal_0: bool) -> usize {
                 uni_value = uni_value * 16 + p.char_at(0).to_digit(16).unwrap();
                 p = &p[1..];
             }
-            // N.B. we assume __STDC_ISO_10646__.
-            if uni_value > 0x10FFFF {
-                self.fatal_error(wgettext_fmt!(
-                    "Unicode character out of range: \\%c%0*x",
-                    esc_char,
-                    exp_esc_length,
-                    uni_value
-                ));
-            } else {
-                // TODO-RUST: if uni_value is a surrogate, we need to encode it using our PUA scheme.
-                if let Some(c) = char::from_u32(uni_value) {
-                    self.append_output(c);
-                } else {
-                    self.fatal_error(wgettext!("Invalid code points not yet supported by printf"));
+            match char::from_u32(uni_value) {
+                Some(c) => {
+                    // Test if this character would be treated specially when decoding.
+                    // If so, PUA-encode it.
+                    if decode_byte_from_char(c).is_some() {
+                        // A `char` represents an Unicode scalar value, which takes up at most 4 bytes when encoded in UTF-8.
+                        let mut converted = [0_u8; 4];
+                        for byte in c.encode_utf8(&mut converted).as_bytes() {
+                            self.append_output(encode_byte_to_char(*byte));
+                        }
+                    } else {
+                        self.append_output(c);
+                    }
+                }
+                None => {
+                    let escaped_char_string = format!("\\{esc_char}{uni_value:0exp_esc_length$x}");
+                    self.fatal_error(wgettext_fmt!(
+                        "Not a valid Unicode character: %s",
+                        escaped_char_string
+                    ));
                 }
             }
         } else {
diff --git a/tests/checks/printf.fish b/tests/checks/printf.fish
index 06aa07a22..72c6038f1 100644
--- a/tests/checks/printf.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/printf.fish
@@ -172,3 +172,13 @@ printf '|%.1s|\n' '𒈙a'
 #CHECK: |𒈙|
 printf '|%3.3s|\n' '👨‍👨‍👧‍👧'
 #CHECK: | 👨‍👨‍👧‍👧|
+
+# Check handling of chars we use in our internal PUA encoding.
+printf '\uf641' | display_bytes
+# CHECK: 0000000 357 231 201
+# CHECK: 0000003
+
+# UTF-8 representation of \uf641
+printf '%s' \xef\x99\x81 | display_bytes
+# CHECK: 0000000 357 231 201
+# CHECK: 0000003