diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryParser.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryParser.java
index fcf1a12eba7..c191e1996b3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryParser.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryParser.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.search.FuzzyQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.PrefixQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MappedFieldType;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Locale;
@@ -43,11 +44,13 @@ import java.util.Objects;
 public class SimpleQueryParser extends org.apache.lucene.queryparser.simple.SimpleQueryParser {
 
     private final Settings settings;
+    private QueryShardContext context;
 
     /** Creates a new parser with custom flags used to enable/disable certain features. */
-    public SimpleQueryParser(Analyzer analyzer, Map<String, Float> weights, int flags, Settings settings) {
+    public SimpleQueryParser(Analyzer analyzer, Map<String, Float> weights, int flags, Settings settings, QueryShardContext context) {
         super(analyzer, weights, flags);
         this.settings = settings;
+        this.context = context;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -60,6 +63,15 @@ public class SimpleQueryParser extends org.apache.lucene.queryparser.simple.Simp
         throw e;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected Query newTermQuery(Term term) {
+        MappedFieldType currentFieldType = context.fieldMapper(term.field());
+        if (currentFieldType == null || currentFieldType.tokenized()) {
+            return super.newTermQuery(term);
+        }
+        return currentFieldType.termQuery(term.bytes(), context);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Query newDefaultQuery(String text) {
         BooleanQuery.Builder bq = new BooleanQuery.Builder();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilder.java
index 187f2c33607..86c32ea3670 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilder.java
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ public class SimpleQueryStringBuilder extends AbstractQueryBuilder<SimpleQuerySt
 
         }
 
-        SimpleQueryParser sqp = new SimpleQueryParser(luceneAnalyzer, resolvedFieldsAndWeights, flags, settings);
+        SimpleQueryParser sqp = new SimpleQueryParser(luceneAnalyzer, resolvedFieldsAndWeights, flags, settings, context);
         sqp.setDefaultOperator(defaultOperator.toBooleanClauseOccur());
 
         Query query = sqp.parse(queryText);
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilderTests.java
index 8853d06fdd3..940d15bb0f3 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/SimpleQueryStringBuilderTests.java
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanClause;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BoostQuery;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchAllDocsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchNoDocsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TermQuery;
-import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.MetaData;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -396,4 +396,15 @@ public class SimpleQueryStringBuilderTests extends AbstractQueryTestCase<SimpleQ
             assertEquals(expectedMinimumShouldMatch, boolQuery.getMinimumNumberShouldMatch());
         }
     }
+
+    public void testIndexMetaField() throws IOException {
+        QueryShardContext shardContext = createShardContext();
+        SimpleQueryStringBuilder simpleQueryStringBuilder = new SimpleQueryStringBuilder(getIndex().getName());
+        simpleQueryStringBuilder.field("_index");
+        Query query = simpleQueryStringBuilder.toQuery(shardContext);
+        assertThat(query, notNullValue());
+        if (getCurrentTypes().length > 0) {
+            assertThat(query, instanceOf(MatchAllDocsQuery.class));
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SimpleQueryStringIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SimpleQueryStringIT.java
index 5bb20d0dd67..ffaebecf89a 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SimpleQueryStringIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/SimpleQueryStringIT.java
@@ -359,4 +359,15 @@ public class SimpleQueryStringIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         assertHitCount(searchResponse, 1L);
         assertSearchHits(searchResponse, "1");
     }
+
+    public void testSimpleQueryStringOnIndexMetaField() throws Exception {
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "1").setSource("foo", 123, "bar", "abc").get();
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "type1", "2").setSource("foo", 234, "bar", "bcd").get();
+
+        refresh();
+
+        SearchResponse searchResponse = client().prepareSearch().setQuery(simpleQueryStringQuery("test").field("_index")).get();
+        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 2L);
+        assertSearchHits(searchResponse, "1", "2");
+    }
 }