diff --git a/src/attributes.ts b/src/attributes.ts
index a8d6ef77..1c57559a 100644
--- a/src/attributes.ts
+++ b/src/attributes.ts
@@ -146,7 +146,12 @@ export const attributeRules: Record<
     element(next, data, options) {
         const { adapter } = options;
         const { name, value } = data;
-        if (whitespaceRe.test(value)) {
+        /*
+         * An empty value (or one containing whitespace, which can never be a
+         * single token) matches nothing — same as `^=`/`$=`/`*=` with an empty
+         * value. See https://www.w3.org/TR/selectors-4/#attribute-representation
+         */
+        if (value === "" || whitespaceRe.test(value)) {
             return boolbase.falseFunc;
         }
 
diff --git a/test/attributes.ts b/test/attributes.ts
index 5f4419d8..4b268d04 100644
--- a/test/attributes.ts
+++ b/test/attributes.ts
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ describe("Attributes", () => {
             );
         });
 
+        it("should for ~= with an empty value", () => {
+            expect(CSSselect._compileUnsafe("[foo~='']")).toBe(
+                boolbase.falseFunc,
+            );
+        });
+
         it("should for $=", () => {
             expect(CSSselect._compileUnsafe("[foo$='']")).toBe(
                 boolbase.falseFunc,