diff --git a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php
index 434d810db0..c2915402a9 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-term-query.php
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ class WP_Term_Query {
 		global $wpdb;
 
 		$this->parse_query( $this->query_vars );
-		$args = $this->query_vars;
+		$args = &$this->query_vars;
 
 		// Set up meta_query so it's available to 'pre_get_terms'.
 		$this->meta_query = new WP_Meta_Query();