diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/PrefixTermEnum.java b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/PrefixTermEnum.java
index e80595fcd09..e2318c2c2ef 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/PrefixTermEnum.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/PrefixTermEnum.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
  */
 public class PrefixTermEnum extends FilteredTermEnum {
 
-  private Term prefix;
+  private final Term prefix;
   private boolean endEnum = false;
 
   public PrefixTermEnum(IndexReader reader, Term prefix) throws IOException {
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ public class PrefixTermEnum extends FilteredTermEnum {
   protected boolean endEnum() {
     return endEnum;
   }
+  
+  protected Term getPrefixTerm() {
+      return prefix;
+  }
 
   protected boolean termCompare(Term term) {
     if (term.field() == prefix.field() && term.text().startsWith(prefix.text())) {