diff --git a/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor b/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor
index 1e0a6a37e1..3885093cba 100644
--- a/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor
+++ b/core/bootstrap/syntax.factor
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ in: bootstrap.syntax
         "CONSTANT:"
         "TUPLE:"
         "SLOT:"
+        "slot:"
         "T{"
         "UNION:"
         "INTERSECTION:"
diff --git a/core/syntax/syntax.factor b/core/syntax/syntax.factor
index 85b6a86e42..cc7d2afd59 100644
--- a/core/syntax/syntax.factor
+++ b/core/syntax/syntax.factor
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ in: bootstrap.syntax
     ] define-core-syntax
 
     "NAN:" [ 16 scan-base <fp-nan> suffix! ] define-core-syntax
+    "nan:" [ 16 scan-base <fp-nan> suffix! ] define-core-syntax
 
     "f" [ f suffix! ] define-core-syntax
 
@@ -110,6 +111,14 @@ in: bootstrap.syntax
         } cond suffix!
     ] define-core-syntax
 
+    "char:" [
+        lexer get parse-raw [ "token" throw-unexpected-eof ] unless* {
+            { [ dup length 1 = ] [ first ] }
+            { [ "\\" ?head ] [ next-escape >string "" assert= ] }
+            [ name>char-hook get call( name -- char ) ]
+        } cond suffix!
+    ] define-core-syntax
+
     "\"" [ parse-string suffix! ] define-core-syntax
 
     "SBUF\"" [
@@ -262,6 +271,9 @@ in: bootstrap.syntax
     "SLOT:" [
         scan-token define-protocol-slot
     ] define-core-syntax
+    "slot:" [
+        scan-token define-protocol-slot
+    ] define-core-syntax
 
     "C:" [
         scan-new-word scan-word define-boa-word