diff --git a/lib/util.js b/lib/util.js
index 0b1d25ba22a520..4c6db1a479e7b3 100644
--- a/lib/util.js
+++ b/lib/util.js
@@ -77,9 +77,7 @@ var Debug;
 
 /* eslint-disable */
 const strEscapeSequencesRegExp = /[\x00-\x1f\x27\x5c]/;
-const keyEscapeSequencesRegExp = /[\x00-\x1f\x27]/;
 const strEscapeSequencesReplacer = /[\x00-\x1f\x27\x5c]/g;
-const keyEscapeSequencesReplacer = /[\x00-\x1f\x27]/g;
 /* eslint-enable */
 const keyStrRegExp = /^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z_0-9]*$/;
 const colorRegExp = /\u001b\[\d\d?m/g;
@@ -133,34 +131,6 @@ function strEscape(str) {
   return `'${result}'`;
 }
 
-// Escape control characters and single quotes.
-// Note: for performance reasons this is not combined with strEscape
-function keyEscape(str) {
-  if (str.length < 5000 && !keyEscapeSequencesRegExp.test(str))
-    return `'${str}'`;
-  if (str.length > 100)
-    return `'${str.replace(keyEscapeSequencesReplacer, escapeFn)}'`;
-  var result = '';
-  var last = 0;
-  for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
-    const point = str.charCodeAt(i);
-    if (point === 39 || point < 32) {
-      if (last === i) {
-        result += meta[point];
-      } else {
-        result += `${str.slice(last, i)}${meta[point]}`;
-      }
-      last = i + 1;
-    }
-  }
-  if (last === 0) {
-    result = str;
-  } else if (last !== i) {
-    result += str.slice(last);
-  }
-  return `'${result}'`;
-}
-
 function tryStringify(arg) {
   try {
     return JSON.stringify(arg);
@@ -851,7 +821,7 @@ function formatProperty(ctx, value, recurseTimes, key, array) {
   } else if (keyStrRegExp.test(key)) {
     name = ctx.stylize(key, 'name');
   } else {
-    name = ctx.stylize(keyEscape(key), 'string');
+    name = ctx.stylize(strEscape(key), 'string');
   }
 
   return `${name}: ${str}`;
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
index 81c669fa126d8e..d9f8e30616657d 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
@@ -558,25 +558,31 @@ assert.doesNotThrow(() => {
   assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(x).includes('inspect'), true);
 }
 
-// util.inspect should not display the escaped value of a key.
+// util.inspect should display the escaped value of a key.
 {
   const w = {
     '\\': 1,
     '\\\\': 2,
     '\\\\\\': 3,
     '\\\\\\\\': 4,
+    '\n': 5,
+    '\r': 6
   };
 
   const y = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
-  y['\\\\\\'] = 'd';
+  y['\\\\'] = 'd';
+  y['\n'] = 'e';
+  y['\r'] = 'f';
 
   assert.strictEqual(
     util.inspect(w),
-    '{ \'\\\': 1, \'\\\\\': 2, \'\\\\\\\': 3, \'\\\\\\\\\': 4 }'
+    '{ \'\\\\\': 1, \'\\\\\\\\\': 2, \'\\\\\\\\\\\\\': 3, ' +
+    '\'\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\': 4, \'\\n\': 5, \'\\r\': 6 }'
   );
   assert.strictEqual(
     util.inspect(y),
-    '[ \'a\', \'b\', \'c\', \'\\\\\\\': \'d\' ]'
+    '[ \'a\', \'b\', \'c\', \'\\\\\\\\\': \'d\', ' +
+    '\'\\n\': \'e\', \'\\r\': \'f\' ]'
   );
 }