diff --git a/src/nvim/highlight_group.c b/src/nvim/highlight_group.c
index 41e7bdb7ac..6965c53f59 100644
--- a/src/nvim/highlight_group.c
+++ b/src/nvim/highlight_group.c
@@ -1548,6 +1548,9 @@ static bool hlgroup2dict(Dictionary *hl, NS ns_id, int hl_id, Arena *arena)
   HlAttrs attr =
     syn_attr2entry(ns_id == 0 ? sgp->sg_attr : ns_get_hl(&ns_id, hl_id, false, sgp->sg_set));
   *hl = arena_dict(arena, HLATTRS_DICT_SIZE + 1);
+  if (attr.rgb_ae_attr & HL_DEFAULT) {
+    PUT_C(*hl, "default", BOOLEAN_OBJ(true));
+  }
   if (link > 0) {
     PUT_C(*hl, "link", STRING_OBJ(cstr_as_string(hl_table[link - 1].sg_name)));
   }
diff --git a/test/functional/api/highlight_spec.lua b/test/functional/api/highlight_spec.lua
index 1601184e1b..d3a79327ae 100644
--- a/test/functional/api/highlight_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/api/highlight_spec.lua
@@ -596,4 +596,9 @@ describe('API: get highlight', function()
     eq({}, data["@foobar.hubbabubba"])
     eq(nil, data["@foobar"])
   end)
+
+  it('should return default flag', function()
+    meths.set_hl(0, 'Tried', { fg = "#00ff00", default = true })
+    eq({ fg = tonumber('00ff00', 16), default = true }, meths.get_hl(0, { name = 'Tried' }))
+  end)
 end)