diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/serialize/AqlTree.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/serialize/AqlTree.java
index b20bfee..747b52f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/serialize/AqlTree.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/query/serialize/AqlTree.java
@@ -198,9 +198,11 @@
 				object = makeSpan();
 			} else if (firstChildNodeCat.equals("tok")) {
 				object = makeToken();
-				LinkedHashMap<String, Object> term = makeTerm();
-				term.put("layer", "orth");
-				object.put("wrap", term);
+				if (node.getChildCount() > 1) { // empty tokens do not wrap a term
+					LinkedHashMap<String, Object> term = makeTerm();
+					term.put("layer", "orth");
+					object.put("wrap", term);
+				}
 			} else if (firstChildNodeCat.equals("qName")) {	// only (foundry/)?layer specified
 				// may be token or span, depending on indicated layer! (e.g. cnx/cat=NP or mate/pos=NN)
 				HashMap<String, Object> qNameParse = parseQNameNode(node.getChild(0));
@@ -729,6 +731,7 @@
 //				"cat=\"NP\" > cat=\"VP\" & #1 _l_ #2",
 //				"cat=\"NP\" > cat=\"VP\" & #1 . tok=\"foo\"",
 				"cat=\"NP\" & cat=\"VP\" & #1 > #2 & #1 _l_ #2",
+				"tok"
 		};
 		//		AqlTree.verbose=true;
 		for (String q : queries) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/AqlTreeTest.java b/src/test/java/AqlTreeTest.java
index 0cf0564..b3ad0fc 100644
--- a/src/test/java/AqlTreeTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/AqlTreeTest.java
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@
 		query = "Mann";
 		String token4 = "{@type=korap:span, layer=Mann}";
 		assertTrue(equalsQueryContent(token4, query));
+		
+		// tok
+		query = "tok";
+		String token5 = "{@type=korap:token}";
+		assertTrue(equalsQueryContent(token5, query));
 	}
 	
 	@Test