diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/UnicodeResolver.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/UnicodeResolver.java
index 13b452433..e6ecb9094 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/UnicodeResolver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/UnicodeResolver.java
@@ -1407,8 +1407,20 @@ private static UnicodeSet resolvePerlBlock(String value) {
         UnicodeSet result = new UnicodeSet();
         for (int valueId = 0; valueId < PerlUnicodeBlockData.valueCount(); valueId++) {
             String candidate = PerlUnicodeBlockData.canonicalValue(valueId);
-            if (valuePattern.matcher(candidate).matches()
-                    || valuePattern.matcher(loosePropertyName(candidate)).matches()) {
+            boolean matches = valuePattern.matcher(candidate).matches()
+                    || valuePattern.matcher(loosePropertyName(candidate)).matches();
+            int icuValue = unicodePropertyValue(UProperty.BLOCK, candidate);
+            for (int nameChoice = UProperty.NameChoice.SHORT;
+                    !matches && icuValue >= 0 && nameChoice <= UProperty.NameChoice.LONG;
+                    nameChoice++) {
+                String officialAlias = UCharacter.getPropertyValueName(
+                        UProperty.BLOCK, icuValue, nameChoice);
+                matches = officialAlias != null
+                        && (valuePattern.matcher(officialAlias).matches()
+                            || valuePattern.matcher(
+                                    loosePropertyName(officialAlias)).matches());
+            }
+            if (matches) {
                 result.addAll(PerlUnicodeBlockData.set(valueId));
             }
         }
@@ -1476,6 +1488,10 @@ private static UnicodeSet resolvePerlScript(String value, boolean extensions) {
 
     private static String perlBlockWildcardBody(String value) {
         String trimmed = value.trim();
+        if (trimmed.startsWith(":\\A") && trimmed.endsWith("\\z:")
+                && trimmed.length() > 6) {
+            return trimmed.substring(3, trimmed.length() - 3);
+        }
         if (!trimmed.startsWith("#") || !trimmed.endsWith("#")
                 || trimmed.length() <= 2) {
             return null;
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/regex/unicode_block_colon_wildcards.t b/src/test/resources/unit/regex/unicode_block_colon_wildcards.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a8a2de8fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/regex/unicode_block_colon_wildcards.t
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Test::More;
+
+no warnings 'experimental::uniprop_wildcards';
+
+sub compile_property {
+    my ($property) = @_;
+    my $pattern = eval 'qr/\A\p{' . $property . '}\z/u';
+    return ($pattern, $@);
+}
+
+my ($basic, $basic_error) = compile_property('Block=:\ABasic_Latin\z:');
+ok(defined $basic, 'colon-delimited Block wildcard compiles')
+    or diag($basic_error);
+like('A', $basic, 'colon-delimited Block wildcard matches its block');
+unlike(chr(0x03B1), $basic,
+    'colon-delimited Block wildcard excludes another block');
+
+my ($short, $short_error) = compile_property('Blk=:\AASCII\z:');
+ok(defined $short, 'Blk accepts a colon-delimited wildcard alias')
+    or diag($short_error);
+like('A', $short, 'wildcard value accepts an official Block alias');
+
+my ($loose, $loose_error) = compile_property('Block=:\Abasiclatin\z:');
+ok(defined $loose, 'Block wildcard compares loose value spellings')
+    or diag($loose_error);
+like('A', $loose, 'loose wildcard value selects Basic_Latin');
+
+my ($union, $union_error) =
+    compile_property('Block=:\A(?:Basic_Latin|Greek_And_Coptic)\z:');
+ok(defined $union, 'Block wildcard accepts value alternation')
+    or diag($union_error);
+like('A', $union, 'Block wildcard alternation includes Basic_Latin');
+like(chr(0x0378), $union,
+    'Block wildcard alternation includes Greek_And_Coptic');
+
+for my $rejected (
+    ['Block=:\ANever_A_Block\z:', 'wildcard matching no Block value'],
+    ['Block=:\A.*\z:', 'star quantifier in Block wildcard'],
+    ['Is_Block=:\ABasic_Latin\z:', 'Is-prefixed Block wildcard'],
+) {
+    my ($pattern, $error) = compile_property($rejected->[0]);
+    ok(!defined($pattern) && length($error), "$rejected->[1] is rejected");
+}
+
+done_testing;