diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 106541e18..4a2a086f7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ Scripting improvements
 Interactive improvements
 ------------------------
 - Command-specific tab completions may now offer results whose first character is a period. For example, it is now possible to tab-complete ``git add`` for files with leading periods. The default file completions hide these files, unless the token itself has a leading period (:issue:`3707`).
+- The :kbd:`Control-R` history search now uses glob syntax (:issue:`10131`).
 
 New or improved bindings
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/src/parse_util.cpp b/src/parse_util.cpp
index fc4e03722..c0bb989a7 100644
--- a/src/parse_util.cpp
+++ b/src/parse_util.cpp
@@ -466,6 +466,48 @@ wcstring parse_util_unescape_wildcards(const wcstring &str) {
     return result;
 }
 
+bool parse_util_contains_wildcards(const wcstring &str) {
+    bool unesc_qmark = !feature_test(feature_flag_t::qmark_noglob);
+
+    const wchar_t *const cs = str.c_str();
+    for (size_t i = 0; cs[i] != L'\0'; i++) {
+        if (cs[i] == L'*') {
+            return true;
+        } else if (cs[i] == L'?' && unesc_qmark) {
+            return true;
+        } else if (cs[i] == L'\\' && cs[i + 1] == L'*') {
+            i += 1;
+        } else if (cs[i] == L'\\' && cs[i + 1] == L'?' && unesc_qmark) {
+            i += 1;
+        } else if (cs[i] == L'\\' && cs[i + 1] == L'\\') {
+            // Not a wildcard, but ensure the next iteration doesn't see this escaped backslash.
+            i += 1;
+        }
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+
+wcstring parse_util_escape_wildcards(const wcstring &str) {
+    wcstring result;
+    result.reserve(str.size());
+    bool unesc_qmark = !feature_test(feature_flag_t::qmark_noglob);
+
+    const wchar_t *const cs = str.c_str();
+    for (size_t i = 0; cs[i] != L'\0'; i++) {
+        if (cs[i] == L'*') {
+            result.append(L"\\*");
+        } else if (cs[i] == L'?' && unesc_qmark) {
+            result.append(L"\\?");
+        } else if (cs[i] == L'\\') {
+            result.append(L"\\\\");
+        } else {
+            result.push_back(cs[i]);
+        }
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+
 /// Find the outermost quoting style of current token. Returns 0 if token is not quoted.
 static wchar_t get_quote(const wcstring &cmd_str, size_t len) {
     size_t i = 0;
diff --git a/src/parse_util.h b/src/parse_util.h
index f4a075035..7f6d786ed 100644
--- a/src/parse_util.h
+++ b/src/parse_util.h
@@ -96,6 +96,14 @@ size_t parse_util_get_offset(const wcstring &str, int line, long line_offset);
 /// transformation.
 wcstring parse_util_unescape_wildcards(const wcstring &str);
 
+/// Return if the given string contains wildcard characters.
+bool parse_util_contains_wildcards(const wcstring &str);
+
+/// Escape any wildcard characters in the given string. e.g. convert
+/// "a*b" to "a\*b".
+wcstring parse_util_escape_wildcards(const wcstring &str);
+
+
 /// Calculates information on the parameter at the specified index.
 ///
 /// \param cmd The command to be analyzed
diff --git a/src/reader.cpp b/src/reader.cpp
index aa60466fd..afe45270e 100644
--- a/src/reader.cpp
+++ b/src/reader.cpp
@@ -1135,17 +1135,21 @@ static history_pager_result_t history_pager_search(const HistorySharedPtr &histo
     size_t page_size = std::max(termsize_last().height / 2 - 2, (rust::isize)12);
 
     rust::Box<completion_list_t> completions = new_completion_list();
+
     rust::Box<HistorySearch> search =
-        rust_history_search_new(history, search_string.c_str(), history_search_type_t::Contains,
+        rust_history_search_new(history, search_string.c_str(), history_search_type_t::ContainsGlob,
                                 smartcase_flags(search_string), history_index);
     bool next_match_found = search->go_to_next_match(direction);
-    if (!next_match_found) {
-        // If there were no matches, try again with subsequence search
+
+    if (!next_match_found && !parse_util_contains_wildcards(search_string)) {
+        // If there were no matches, and the user is not intending for
+        // wildcard search, try again with subsequence search.
         search = rust_history_search_new(history, search_string.c_str(),
                                          history_search_type_t::ContainsSubsequence,
                                          smartcase_flags(search_string), history_index);
         next_match_found = search->go_to_next_match(direction);
     }
+
     while (completions->size() < page_size && next_match_found) {
         const history_item_t &item = search->current_item();
         completions->push_back(*new_completion_with(
@@ -3671,7 +3675,9 @@ void reader_data_t::handle_readline_command(readline_cmd_t c, readline_loop_stat
             pager.set_prefix(MB_CUR_MAX > 1 ? L"► " : L"> ", false /* highlight */);
             // Update the search field, which triggers the actual history search.
             if (!history_search.active() || history_search.search_string().empty()) {
-                insert_string(pager.search_field_line(), *command_line.text());
+                // Escape any wildcards the user may have in their input.
+                auto escaped_command_line = parse_util_escape_wildcards(*command_line.text());
+                insert_string(pager.search_field_line(), escaped_command_line);
             } else {
                 // If we have an actual history search already going, reuse that term
                 // - this is if the user looks around a bit and decides to switch to the pager.