diff --git a/src/Surface.zig b/src/Surface.zig
index 91758a21a..8d8a14f14 100644
--- a/src/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/Surface.zig
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ const DerivedConfig = struct {
             .macos_option_as_alt = config.@"macos-option-as-alt",
             .selection_clear_on_copy = config.@"selection-clear-on-copy",
             .selection_clear_on_typing = config.@"selection-clear-on-typing",
-            .selection_word_chars = config.@"selection-word-chars".codepoints,
+            .selection_word_chars = try alloc.dupe(u21, config.@"selection-word-chars".codepoints),
             .vt_kam_allowed = config.@"vt-kam-allowed",
             .wait_after_command = config.@"wait-after-command",
             .window_padding_top = config.@"window-padding-y".top_left,
@@ -4264,7 +4264,10 @@ pub fn mouseButtonCallback(
                 if (try self.linkAtPos(pos)) |link| {
                     try self.setSelection(link.selection);
                 } else {
-                    const sel = screen.selectWord(pin, self.config.selection_word_chars) orelse break :sel;
+                    const sel = screen.selectWord(
+                        pin,
+                        self.config.selection_word_chars,
+                    ) orelse break :sel;
                     try self.setSelection(sel);
                 }
                 try self.queueRender();
diff --git a/src/config/Config.zig b/src/config/Config.zig
index 9bbcb342b..efe35604d 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.zig
+++ b/src/config/Config.zig
@@ -722,7 +722,8 @@ foreground: Color = .{ .r = 0xFF, .g = 0xFF, .b = 0xFF },
 /// words in code and prose.
 ///
 /// Each character in this string becomes a word boundary. Multi-byte UTF-8
-/// characters are supported.
+/// characters are supported, but only single codepoints can be specified.
+/// Multi-codepoint sequences (e.g. emoji) are not supported.
 ///
 /// The null character (U+0000) is always treated as a boundary and does not
 /// need to be included in this configuration.
@@ -733,6 +734,8 @@ foreground: Color = .{ .r = 0xFF, .g = 0xFF, .b = 0xFF },
 /// For example, to treat semicolons as part of words:
 ///
 ///     selection-word-chars = " \t'\"│`|:,()[]{}<>$"
+///
+/// Available since: 1.3.0
 @"selection-word-chars": SelectionWordChars = .{},
 
 /// The minimum contrast ratio between the foreground and background colors.