diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/ip/IpFieldMapper.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/ip/IpFieldMapper.java
index 9984463ffc0..c83428d2239 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/ip/IpFieldMapper.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/ip/IpFieldMapper.java
@@ -213,11 +213,24 @@ public class IpFieldMapper extends NumberFieldMapper {
         @Override
         public Query termQuery(Object value, @Nullable QueryShardContext context) {
             if (value != null) {
-                long[] fromTo;
+                String term;
                 if (value instanceof BytesRef) {
-                    fromTo = Cidrs.cidrMaskToMinMax(((BytesRef) value).utf8ToString());
+                    term = ((BytesRef) value).utf8ToString();
                 } else {
-                    fromTo = Cidrs.cidrMaskToMinMax(value.toString());
+                    term = value.toString();
+                }
+                long[] fromTo;
+                // assume that the term is either a CIDR range or the
+                // term is a single IPv4 address; if either of these
+                // assumptions is wrong, the CIDR parsing will fail
+                // anyway, and that is okay
+                if (term.contains("/")) {
+                    // treat the term as if it is in CIDR notation
+                    fromTo = Cidrs.cidrMaskToMinMax(term);
+                } else {
+                    // treat the term as if it is a single IPv4, and
+                    // apply a CIDR mask equivalent to the host route
+                    fromTo = Cidrs.cidrMaskToMinMax(term + "/32");
                 }
                 if (fromTo != null) {
                     return rangeQuery(fromTo[0] == 0 ? null : fromTo[0],
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/simple/SimpleSearchIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/simple/SimpleSearchIT.java
index 27cc3d3cfb8..78079065522 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/simple/SimpleSearchIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/simple/SimpleSearchIT.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.boolQuery;
+import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.queryStringQuery;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.rangeQuery;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertFailures;
@@ -124,6 +125,16 @@ public class SimpleSearchIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         refresh();
 
         SearchResponse search = client().prepareSearch()
+            .setQuery(boolQuery().must(QueryBuilders.termQuery("ip", "192.168.0.1")))
+            .execute().actionGet();
+        assertHitCount(search, 1L);
+
+        search = client().prepareSearch()
+            .setQuery(queryStringQuery("ip: 192.168.0.1"))
+            .execute().actionGet();
+        assertHitCount(search, 1L);
+
+        search = client().prepareSearch()
                 .setQuery(boolQuery().must(QueryBuilders.termQuery("ip", "192.168.0.1/32")))
                 .execute().actionGet();
         assertHitCount(search, 1l);