diff --git a/awesomerc.1.txt b/awesomerc.1.txt
index d3331f353..5a479c60f 100644
--- a/awesomerc.1.txt
+++ b/awesomerc.1.txt
@@ -312,6 +312,7 @@ Note: when there is no whitespace, quotes are optional.
 <image>         -> "/home/awesome/pics/icon.png" (path to image)
 <integer>       -> 1, 10, -3 (positive numbers are required mostly)
 <key>           -> a, 1, F10 (see /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h w/o XK_ or 'xev')
+                   or a keycode beginning with #
 <mod>           -> "Mod1", "Mod4", "Control" (modifiers)
 <regex>         -> regular expression
 <string>        -> "foo bar"
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index dcf5de029..3ba5fb726 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -168,6 +168,19 @@ set_key_info(Key *key, cfg_t *cfg)
         warn("unknown command %s\n", cfg_getstr(cfg, "command"));
 }
 
+static KeySym
+key_to_keysym(char *str)
+{
+    KeyCode kc;
+    int ikc;
+
+    if(a_strncmp(str, "#", 1))
+        return XStringToKeysym(str);
+
+    ikc = atoi(str + 1);
+    memcpy(&kc, &ikc, sizeof(KeyCode));
+    return XKeycodeToKeysym(globalconf.display, kc, 0);
+}
 
 static Key *
 section_keys(cfg_t *cfg_keys)
@@ -181,7 +194,7 @@ section_keys(cfg_t *cfg_keys)
         key = p_new(Key, 1);
         cfgkeytmp = cfg_getnsec(cfg_keys, "key", i);
         set_key_info(key, cfgkeytmp);
-        key->keysym = XStringToKeysym(cfg_getstr(cfgkeytmp, "key"));
+        key->keysym = key_to_keysym(cfg_getstr(cfgkeytmp, "key"));
         key->arg = a_strdup(cfg_getstr(cfgkeytmp, "arg"));
         key_list_push(&head, key);
     }
@@ -200,7 +213,7 @@ section_keys(cfg_t *cfg_keys)
         {
             key = p_new(Key, 1);
             set_key_info(key, cfgkeytmp);
-            key->keysym = XStringToKeysym(cfg_getnstr(cfgkeytmp, "keylist", j));
+            key->keysym = key_to_keysym(cfg_getnstr(cfgkeytmp, "keylist", j));
             key->arg = a_strdup(cfg_getnstr(cfgkeytmp, "arglist", j));
             key_list_push(&head, key);
         }