diff --git a/src/wp-includes/widget-functions.php b/src/wp-includes/widget-functions.php
index 8c9b568935..c9c8268a5e 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/widget-functions.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/widget-functions.php
@@ -949,10 +949,15 @@ function the_widget( $widget, $instance = array(), $args = array() ) {
 		return;
 	}
 
-	$before_widget = sprintf('<div class="widget %s">', $widget_obj->widget_options['classname'] );
-	$default_args = array( 'before_widget' => $before_widget, 'after_widget' => "</div>", 'before_title' => '<h2 class="widgettitle">', 'after_title' => '</h2>' );
+	$default_args = array(
+		'before_widget' => '<div class="widget %s">',
+		'after_widget'  => "</div>",
+		'before_title'  => '<h2 class="widgettitle">',
+		'after_title'   => '</h2>',
+	);
+	$args = wp_parse_args( $args, $default_args );
+	$args['before_widget'] = sprintf( $args['before_widget'], $widget_obj->widget_options['classname'] );
 
-	$args = wp_parse_args($args, $default_args);
 	$instance = wp_parse_args($instance);
 
 	/**
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/widgets.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/widgets.php
index a98942044c..a9c6b62278 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/widgets.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/widgets.php
@@ -607,4 +607,19 @@ class Tests_Widgets extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 			$this->assertContains( $contained, $control );
 		}
 	}
+
+	function test_the_widget_custom_before_title_arg() {
+
+		ob_start();
+		the_widget(
+			'WP_Widget_Text',
+			array( 'title' => 'Notes', 'text' => 'Sample text' ),
+			array( 'before_widget' => '<span class="special %s">', 'after_widget' => '</span>' )
+		);
+		$actual = ob_get_clean();
+
+		$this->assertRegExp( '/<span class="special widget_text">/', $actual );
+
+	}
+
 }