diff --git a/src/wp-includes/formatting.php b/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
index f59f877775b77..09252115d6f37 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -4509,10 +4509,10 @@ function esc_url( $url, $protocols = null, $_context = 'display' ) {
 	/*
 	 * If the URL doesn't appear to contain a scheme, we presume
 	 * it needs http:// prepended (unless it's a relative link
-	 * starting with /, # or ?, or a PHP file). If the first item
-	 * in $protocols is 'https', then https:// is prepended.
+	 * starting with ., /, # or ?, or a PHP file). If the first
+	 * item in $protocols is 'https', then https:// is prepended.
 	 */
-	if ( ! str_contains( $url, ':' ) && ! in_array( $url[0], array( '/', '#', '?' ), true ) &&
+	if ( ! str_contains( $url, ':' ) && ! in_array( $url[0], array( '.', '/', '#', '?' ), true ) &&
 		! preg_match( '/^[a-z0-9-]+?\.php/i', $url )
 	) {
 		$scheme = ( is_array( $protocols ) && 'https' === array_first( $protocols ) ) ? 'https://' : 'http://';
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/formatting/escUrl.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/formatting/escUrl.php
index e994ecdebd30b..da4a4aaa33328 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/formatting/escUrl.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/formatting/escUrl.php
@@ -311,4 +311,13 @@ public function test_ipv6_hosts() {
 		$this->assertSame( '//[::FFFF::127.0.0.1]/?foo%5Bbar%5D=baz', esc_url( '//[::FFFF::127.0.0.1]/?foo[bar]=baz' ) );
 		$this->assertSame( 'http://[::FFFF::127.0.0.1]/?foo%5Bbar%5D=baz', esc_url( 'http://[::FFFF::127.0.0.1]/?foo[bar]=baz' ) );
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @ticket 46791
+	 */
+	public function test_directory_relative_references() {
+		$this->assertSame( './current-directory', esc_url( './current-directory' ) );
+		$this->assertSame( '../parent-directory', esc_url( '../parent-directory' ) );
+		$this->assertSame( '../../../../up-four-directories', esc_url( '../../../../up-four-directories' ) );
+	}
 }