diff --git a/src/nvim/lua/executor.c b/src/nvim/lua/executor.c
index 124fce58b6..30d3f26f0e 100644
--- a/src/nvim/lua/executor.c
+++ b/src/nvim/lua/executor.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <lauxlib.h>
 #include <lua.h>
 #include <lualib.h>
+#include <math.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -451,10 +452,19 @@ static int nlua_wait(lua_State *lstate)
     return luaL_error(lstate, e_fast_api_disabled, "vim.wait");
   }
 
-  intptr_t timeout = luaL_checkinteger(lstate, 1);
-  if (timeout < 0) {
+  double timeout_number = luaL_checknumber(lstate, 1);
+  if (timeout_number < 0) {
     return luaL_error(lstate, "timeout must be >= 0");
   }
+  int64_t timeout;
+  if (isinf(timeout_number) || timeout_number > (double)INT64_MAX) {
+    timeout = INT64_MAX;
+  } else {
+    if (isnan(timeout_number) || timeout_number != trunc(timeout_number)) {
+      return luaL_error(lstate, "timeout has no integer representation");
+    }
+    timeout = (int64_t)timeout_number;
+  }
 
   int lua_top = lua_gettop(lstate);
 
@@ -510,7 +520,7 @@ static int nlua_wait(lua_State *lstate)
 
   LOOP_PROCESS_EVENTS_UNTIL(&main_loop,
                             loop_events,
-                            (int)timeout,
+                            timeout,
                             got_int || (is_function ? nlua_wait_condition(lstate,
                                                                           &pcall_status,
                                                                           &callback_result,
diff --git a/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua b/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua
index 73b393f11a..6aef76f476 100644
--- a/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/lua/vim_spec.lua
@@ -2451,7 +2451,8 @@ stack traceback:
         exec_lua([[
           function _G.Wait()
             vim.rpcnotify(vim.g.channel, 'ready')
-            local _, interrupted = vim.wait(4000)
+            -- handles math.huge #36854
+            local _, interrupted = vim.wait(math.huge)
             vim.rpcnotify(vim.g.channel, 'wait', interrupted)
           end
         ]])
@@ -2465,7 +2466,7 @@ stack traceback:
         exec_lua([[
           function _G.Wait()
             vim.rpcnotify(vim.g.channel, 'ready')
-            local _, interrupted = vim.wait(4000, function() end)
+            local _, interrupted = vim.wait(math.huge, function() end)
             vim.rpcnotify(vim.g.channel, 'wait', interrupted)
           end
         ]])