diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 26512c7c019..9388c43e5d3 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ Release 8.0.1 (in development)
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
+* Patch ``pygments.Formatter.__class_getitem__`` in Pygments 2.17.
+  Patch by Adam Turner.
 
 Release 8.0.0 (released Jul 29, 2024)
 =====================================
diff --git a/sphinx/highlighting.py b/sphinx/highlighting.py
index 899a82fe43e..c5ac536ff84 100644
--- a/sphinx/highlighting.py
+++ b/sphinx/highlighting.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from importlib import import_module
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
+import pygments
 from pygments import highlight
 from pygments.filters import ErrorToken
 from pygments.formatters import HtmlFormatter, LatexFormatter
@@ -30,6 +31,11 @@
     from pygments.lexer import Lexer
     from pygments.style import Style
 
+if tuple(map(int, pygments.__version__.split('.')))[:2] < (2, 18):
+    from pygments.formatter import Formatter
+
+    Formatter.__class_getitem__ = lambda cls, name: cls
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 lexers: dict[str, Lexer] = {}
diff --git a/tests/test_highlighting.py b/tests/test_highlighting.py
index e9564d1679c..7149cf13c7e 100644
--- a/tests/test_highlighting.py
+++ b/tests/test_highlighting.py
@@ -2,12 +2,17 @@
 
 from unittest import mock
 
+import pygments
 from pygments.formatters.html import HtmlFormatter
 from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer
 from pygments.token import Name, Text
 
 from sphinx.highlighting import PygmentsBridge
 
+if tuple(map(int, pygments.__version__.split('.')))[:2] < (2, 18):
+    from pygments.formatter import Formatter
+    Formatter.__class_getitem__ = lambda cls, name: cls
+
 
 class MyLexer(RegexLexer):
     name = 'testlexer'