diff --git a/compiler/prelude/TysWiredIn.hs b/compiler/prelude/TysWiredIn.hs
index 0817a7589839cbaee1e91d9828429767cf66fcb6..9ba2f1f45a2e154dd6b39873529d3f606c77c3e8 100644
--- a/compiler/prelude/TysWiredIn.hs
+++ b/compiler/prelude/TysWiredIn.hs
@@ -679,6 +679,9 @@ isBuiltInOcc_maybe occ =
       "[]" -> Just $ choose_ns listTyConName nilDataConName
       ":"    -> Just consDataConName
 
+      -- equality tycon
+      "~"    -> Just eqTyConName
+
       -- boxed tuple data/tycon
       "()"    -> Just $ tup_name Boxed 0
       _ | Just rest <- "(" `BS.stripPrefix` name
diff --git a/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/T15214.hs b/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/T15214.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..55f15593bec6754fa0fbf65c52061c197ca5954d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/T15214.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE TypeOperators #-}
+module T15214 where
+
+type (~) = Either
diff --git a/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/T15214.stderr b/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/T15214.stderr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..399438adb5dcffbc3bf72942aa148bdc8d3e07db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/T15214.stderr
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+
+T15214.hs:4:1: error: Illegal binding of built-in syntax: ~
diff --git a/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/all.T b/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/all.T
index fb53d3306ad5bd2057e5598df8690bf749b46fc5..413b24f7d2132629a7778ade3dbbfdfb411e9702 100644
--- a/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/all.T
+++ b/testsuite/tests/rename/should_fail/all.T
@@ -130,3 +130,4 @@ test('T13947', normal, compile_fail, [''])
 test('T13847', normal, multimod_compile_fail, ['T13847','-v0'])
 test('T14307', normal, compile_fail, [''])
 test('T14591', normal, compile_fail, [''])
+test('T15214', normal, compile_fail, [''])