diff --git a/includes/parser/Parser.php b/includes/parser/Parser.php
index e3a4ea57eb3..6b2444ebb54 100644
--- a/includes/parser/Parser.php
+++ b/includes/parser/Parser.php
@@ -4636,14 +4636,15 @@ class Parser {
 			# * <sup> and <sub> (bug 8393)
 			# * <i> (bug 26375)
 			# * <b> (r105284)
+			# * <bdi> (bug 72884)
 			# * <span dir="rtl"> and <span dir="ltr"> (bug 35167)
 			#
 			# We strip any parameter from accepted tags (second regex), except dir="rtl|ltr" from <span>,
 			# to allow setting directionality in toc items.
 			$tocline = preg_replace(
 				array(
-					'#<(?!/?(span|sup|sub|i|b)(?: [^>]*)?>).*?' . '>#',
-					'#<(/?(?:span(?: dir="(?:rtl|ltr)")?|sup|sub|i|b))(?: .*?)?' . '>#'
+					'#<(?!/?(span|sup|sub|bdi|i|b)(?: [^>]*)?>).*?' . '>#',
+					'#<(/?(?:span(?: dir="(?:rtl|ltr)")?|sup|sub|bdi|i|b))(?: .*?)?' . '>#'
 				),
 				array( '', '<$1>' ),
 				$safeHeadline
diff --git a/tests/parser/parserTests.txt b/tests/parser/parserTests.txt
index cf9d8299753..7eb152ab8ee 100644
--- a/tests/parser/parserTests.txt
+++ b/tests/parser/parserTests.txt
@@ -19043,6 +19043,22 @@ __TOC__
 
 !! end
 
+!! test
+Bug 72884: bdi element in ToC
+!! wikitext
+__TOC__
+== <bdi>test</bdi> ==
+!! html
+<div id="toc" class="toc"><div id="toctitle"><h2>Contents</h2></div>
+<ul>
+<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#test"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext"><bdi>test</bdi></span></a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+
+<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="test"><bdi>test</bdi></span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/index.php?title=Parser_test&amp;action=edit&amp;section=1" title="Edit section: test">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2>
+
+!! end
+
 !! article
 MediaWiki:Bug32057
 !! text