diff --git a/minetest/colorspec.lua b/minetest/colorspec.lua
index 166015c..ce54ef8 100644
--- a/minetest/colorspec.lua
+++ b/minetest/colorspec.lua
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ function colorspec.from_string(string)
 	if not number then
 		local name, alpha_text = string:match("^([a-z]+)" .. hex .. "$")
 		if name then
-			if alpha_text:len() ~= 2 then
+			if alpha_text:len() > 2 then
 				return
 			end
 			number = named_colors[name]
@@ -211,6 +211,9 @@ function colorspec.from_string(string)
 				return
 			end
 			alpha = tonumber(alpha_text, 0x10)
+			if alpha_text:len() == 1 then
+				alpha = alpha * 0x11
+			end
 		end
 	end
 	if number then
diff --git a/test.lua b/test.lua
index ae3f12c..ddd2832 100644
--- a/test.lua
+++ b/test.lua
@@ -389,6 +389,7 @@ local spec = colorspec.from_number_rgba(0xDDCCBBAA)
 assertdump(table.equals(spec, {a = 0xAA, b = 0xBB, g = 0xCC, r = 0xDD}), spec)
 test_from_string("aliceblue", 0xf0f8ffff)
 test_from_string("aliceblue#42", 0xf0f8ff42)
+test_from_string("aliceblue#3", 0xf0f8ff33)
 test_from_string("#333", 0x333333FF)
 test_from_string("#694269", 0x694269FF)
 test_from_string("#11223344", 0x11223344)