diff --git a/src/nvim/highlight_group.c b/src/nvim/highlight_group.c
index 4f0da40391..4f0b976a7e 100644
--- a/src/nvim/highlight_group.c
+++ b/src/nvim/highlight_group.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ static const char e_missing_argument_str[]
 // they still work when the runtime files can't be found.
 
 static const char *highlight_init_both[] = {
-  "Cursor            guifg=bg      guibg=fg",
+  "Cursor            guifg=bg      guibg=fg                cterm=reverse",
   "CursorLineNr      gui=bold      cterm=bold",
   "Ignore            guifg=bg      ctermfg=0",
   "PmenuMatch        gui=bold      cterm=bold",
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ static const char *highlight_init_both[] = {
   "TabLineSel        guifg=fg      guibg=bg                gui=bold cterm=nocombine",
   "TermCursor        gui=reverse   cterm=reverse",
   "Underlined        gui=underline cterm=underline",
-  "lCursor           guifg=bg      guibg=fg",
+  "lCursor           guifg=bg      guibg=fg                cterm=reverse",
 
   // UI
   "default link CursorIM         Cursor",
diff --git a/test/functional/ui/highlight_spec.lua b/test/functional/ui/highlight_spec.lua
index 465923fce5..87ca781b3d 100644
--- a/test/functional/ui/highlight_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/ui/highlight_spec.lua
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ describe('highlight defaults', function()
 
   it('Cursor after `:hi clear|syntax reset` #6508', function()
     command('highlight clear|syntax reset')
-    eq('guifg=bg guibg=fg', eval([[matchstr(execute('hi Cursor'), '\v(gui|cterm).*$')]]))
+    eq('cterm=reverse guifg=bg guibg=fg', eval([[matchstr(execute('hi Cursor'), '\v(gui|cterm).*$')]]))
   end)
 
   it('Whitespace highlight', function()