diff --git a/spec/std/http/client/client_spec.cr b/spec/std/http/client/client_spec.cr
index fc38192c0c5e..74ad4ce0c133 100644
--- a/spec/std/http/client/client_spec.cr
+++ b/spec/std/http/client/client_spec.cr
@@ -60,6 +60,21 @@ module HTTP
     typeof(Client.post("http://www.example.com", body: Bytes[65]))
     typeof(Client.new("host").post("/", body: Bytes[65]))
 
+    describe "from String" do
+      it "raises when not a host" do
+        ["http://www.example.com",
+         "www.example.com:8080",
+         "example.com/path",
+         "example.com?query",
+         "http://example.com:bad_port",
+         "user:pass@domain"].each do |string|
+          expect_raises(ArgumentError, "The string passed to create an HTTP::Client must be just a host, not #{string.inspect}") do
+            Client.new(string)
+          end
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
     describe "from URI" do
       it "has sane defaults" do
         cl = Client.new(URI.parse("http://example.com"))
diff --git a/src/http/client.cr b/src/http/client.cr
index a688e26da68d..5299f486ab70 100644
--- a/src/http/client.cr
+++ b/src/http/client.cr
@@ -125,6 +125,8 @@ class HTTP::Client
   # be used, else the given one. In any case the active context can be accessed through `tls`.
   {% if flag?(:without_openssl) %}
     def initialize(@host : String, port = nil, tls : Bool = false)
+      check_host_only(@host)
+
       @tls = nil
       if tls
         raise "HTTP::Client TLS is disabled because `-D without_openssl` was passed at compile time"
@@ -135,6 +137,8 @@ class HTTP::Client
     end
   {% else %}
     def initialize(@host : String, port = nil, tls : Bool | OpenSSL::SSL::Context::Client = false)
+      check_host_only(@host)
+
       @tls = case tls
              when true
                OpenSSL::SSL::Context::Client.new
@@ -149,6 +153,21 @@ class HTTP::Client
     end
   {% end %}
 
+  private def check_host_only(string : String)
+    # When parsing a URI with just a host
+    # we end up with a URI with just a path
+    uri = URI.parse(string)
+    if uri.scheme || uri.host || uri.port || uri.query || uri.user || uri.password || uri.path.includes?('/')
+      raise_invalid_host(string)
+    end
+  rescue URI::Error
+    raise_invalid_host(string)
+  end
+
+  private def raise_invalid_host(string : String)
+    raise ArgumentError.new("The string passed to create an HTTP::Client must be just a host, not #{string.inspect}")
+  end
+
   # Creates a new HTTP client from a URI. Parses the *host*, *port*,
   # and *tls* configuration from the URI provided. Port defaults to
   # 80 if not specified unless using the https protocol, which defaults