diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index 36340d0f9..8d3a18526 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ static void prim_addErrorContext(EvalState & state, const PosIdx pos, Value * *
         auto message = state.coerceToString(pos, *args[0], context,
                 "while evaluating the error message passed to builtins.addErrorContext",
                 false, false).toOwned();
-        e.addTrace(nullptr, message, true);
+        e.addTrace(nullptr, hintfmt(message), true);
         throw;
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/functional/lang.sh b/tests/functional/lang.sh
index c3acef5ee..12df32c87 100755
--- a/tests/functional/lang.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/lang.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ nix-instantiate --trace-verbose --eval -E 'builtins.traceVerbose "Hello" 123' 2>
 nix-instantiate --eval -E 'builtins.traceVerbose "Hello" 123' 2>&1 | grepQuietInverse Hello
 nix-instantiate --show-trace --eval -E 'builtins.addErrorContext "Hello" 123' 2>&1 | grepQuietInverse Hello
 expectStderr 1 nix-instantiate --show-trace --eval -E 'builtins.addErrorContext "Hello" (throw "Foo")' | grepQuiet Hello
+expectStderr 1 nix-instantiate --show-trace --eval -E 'builtins.addErrorContext "Hello %" (throw "Foo")' | grepQuiet 'Hello %'
 
 nix-instantiate --eval -E 'let x = builtins.trace { x = x; } true; in x' \
   2>&1 | grepQuiet -E 'trace: { x = «potential infinite recursion»; }'