diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/_mathtext_data.py b/lib/matplotlib/_mathtext_data.py
index 7f6c4e84f735..4813b1746a1f 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/_mathtext_data.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/_mathtext_data.py
@@ -160,8 +160,6 @@
     r'\nwarrow'                  : ('cmsy10',  65),
     r'\swarrow'                  : ('cmsy10', 116),
     r'\propto'                   : ('cmsy10',  15),
-    r'\prime'                    : ('cmsy10',  73),
-    r"'"                         : ('cmsy10',  73),
     r'\infty'                    : ('cmsy10',  32),
     r'\in'                       : ('cmsy10',  59),
     r'\ni'                       : ('cmsy10', 122),
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py b/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py
index 9f8fd82c6a9b..0219bf048191 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/mathtext.py
@@ -2456,6 +2456,8 @@ def customspace(self, s, loc, toks):
     def symbol(self, s, loc, toks):
         # print "symbol", toks
         c = toks[0]
+        if c == "'":
+            c = '\prime'
         try:
             char = Char(c, self.get_state())
         except ValueError: