diff --git a/crates/squawk_ide/src/tokens.rs b/crates/squawk_ide/src/tokens.rs
index 7edd3568..b5066786 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_ide/src/tokens.rs
+++ b/crates/squawk_ide/src/tokens.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ pub(crate) fn is_string_or_comment(kind: SyntaxKind) -> bool {
         SyntaxKind::COMMENT
             | SyntaxKind::STRING
             | SyntaxKind::BYTE_STRING
+            | SyntaxKind::UNICODE_ESC_STRING
             | SyntaxKind::BIT_STRING
             | SyntaxKind::DOLLAR_QUOTED_STRING
             | SyntaxKind::ESC_STRING
diff --git a/crates/squawk_parser/src/generated/syntax_kind.rs b/crates/squawk_parser/src/generated/syntax_kind.rs
index 8ed5f408..1b372638 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_parser/src/generated/syntax_kind.rs
+++ b/crates/squawk_parser/src/generated/syntax_kind.rs
@@ -546,6 +546,7 @@ pub enum SyntaxKind {
     NULL,
     POSITIONAL_PARAM,
     STRING,
+    UNICODE_ESC_STRING,
     COMMENT,
     ERROR,
     IDENT,
diff --git a/crates/squawk_parser/src/grammar.rs b/crates/squawk_parser/src/grammar.rs
index 5d68d1bb..41a87500 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_parser/src/grammar.rs
+++ b/crates/squawk_parser/src/grammar.rs
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ fn literal(p: &mut Parser<'_>) -> Option<CompletedMarker> {
         return None;
     }
     let m = p.start();
-    if p.eat(BYTE_STRING) {
+    if p.eat(UNICODE_ESC_STRING) {
         if p.eat(UESCAPE_KW) {
             p.eat(STRING);
         }
@@ -4802,6 +4802,7 @@ const NUMERIC_FIRST: TokenSet = TokenSet::new(&[INT_NUMBER, FLOAT_NUMBER]);
 const STRING_FIRST: TokenSet = TokenSet::new(&[
     STRING,
     BYTE_STRING,
+    UNICODE_ESC_STRING,
     BIT_STRING,
     DOLLAR_QUOTED_STRING,
     ESC_STRING,
diff --git a/crates/squawk_parser/src/lexed_str.rs b/crates/squawk_parser/src/lexed_str.rs
index 871eb2fb..411b5c9c 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_parser/src/lexed_str.rs
+++ b/crates/squawk_parser/src/lexed_str.rs
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ impl<'a> Converter<'a> {
                     err = "Missing trailing `'` symbol to terminate the unicode escape string literal";
                 }
                 // TODO: rust analzyer checks for un-escaped strings, we should too
-                SyntaxKind::BYTE_STRING
+                SyntaxKind::UNICODE_ESC_STRING
             }
             squawk_lexer::LiteralKind::EscStr { terminated } => {
                 if !terminated {
diff --git a/crates/squawk_parser/src/lib.rs b/crates/squawk_parser/src/lib.rs
index 06ca8cef..7de8de2f 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_parser/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/squawk_parser/src/lib.rs
@@ -424,24 +424,6 @@ impl<'t> Parser<'t> {
                 m.complete(self, SyntaxKind::IS_NOT);
                 return true;
             }
-            // SyntaxKind::BYTE_STRING => {
-            //     let m = self.start();
-            //     self.bump(SyntaxKind::BYTE_STRING);
-            //     if self.eat(SyntaxKind::UESCAPE_KW) {
-            //         self.expect(SyntaxKind::STRING);
-            //     }
-            //     m.complete(self, SyntaxKind::BYTE_STRING);
-            //     return true;
-            // }
-            // SyntaxKind::IDENT => {
-            //     let m = self.start();
-            //     self.bump(SyntaxKind::IDENT);
-            //     if self.eat(SyntaxKind::UESCAPE_KW) {
-            //         self.expect(SyntaxKind::STRING);
-            //     }
-            //     m.complete(self, SyntaxKind::IDENT);
-            //     return true;
-            // }
             SyntaxKind::CUSTOM_OP => {
                 let m = self.start();
                 while !self.at(SyntaxKind::EOF) {
diff --git a/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_ok.snap b/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_ok.snap
index e9dde86a..ecc023f5 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_ok.snap
+++ b/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_ok.snap
@@ -6234,7 +6234,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
       TARGET_LIST
         TARGET
           LITERAL
-            BYTE_STRING "U&' \\'"
+            UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&' \\'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             UESCAPE_KW "UESCAPE"
             WHITESPACE " "
diff --git a/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_operators_ok.snap b/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_operators_ok.snap
index c30f6d75..571fd0de 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_operators_ok.snap
+++ b/crates/squawk_parser/tests/snapshots/tests__select_operators_ok.snap
@@ -1744,7 +1744,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
         TARGET
           POSTFIX_EXPR
             LITERAL
-              BYTE_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
+              UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             IS_NORMALIZED
               IS_KW "is"
@@ -1760,7 +1760,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
         TARGET
           POSTFIX_EXPR
             LITERAL
-              BYTE_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
+              UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             IS_NORMALIZED
               IS_KW "is"
@@ -1778,7 +1778,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
         TARGET
           POSTFIX_EXPR
             LITERAL
-              BYTE_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
+              UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             IS_NORMALIZED
               IS_KW "is"
@@ -1796,7 +1796,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
         TARGET
           POSTFIX_EXPR
             LITERAL
-              BYTE_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
+              UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             IS_NORMALIZED
               IS_KW "is"
@@ -1814,7 +1814,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
         TARGET
           POSTFIX_EXPR
             LITERAL
-              BYTE_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
+              UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             IS_NORMALIZED
               IS_KW "is"
@@ -1832,7 +1832,7 @@ SOURCE_FILE
         TARGET
           BIN_EXPR
             LITERAL
-              BYTE_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
+              UNICODE_ESC_STRING "U&'\\0061\\0308bc'"
             WHITESPACE " "
             IS_NOT
               IS_KW "is"
diff --git a/crates/squawk_syntax/src/postgresql.ungram b/crates/squawk_syntax/src/postgresql.ungram
index e534be42..36376e87 100644
--- a/crates/squawk_syntax/src/postgresql.ungram
+++ b/crates/squawk_syntax/src/postgresql.ungram
@@ -347,6 +347,7 @@ Literal =
   | '@byte_string'
   | '@bit_string'
   | '@dollar_quoted_string'
+  | '@unicode_esc_string'
   | '@esc_string'
   | '@positional_param'
   )