diff --git a/lib/cgi/util.rb b/lib/cgi/util.rb
index 840bd6d5d0..464115262f 100644
--- a/lib/cgi/util.rb
+++ b/lib/cgi/util.rb
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ module CGI::Util
   end
 
   begin
-    require_relative 'escape'
+    require 'cgi/escape'
   rescue LoadError
   end