diff --git a/lib/wordrep.gi b/lib/wordrep.gi
index a231fc55a0..a7672b66b5 100644
--- a/lib/wordrep.gi
+++ b/lib/wordrep.gi
@@ -214,6 +214,35 @@ local a,n,t,
       i,j,
       str;
 
+  str:= "";
+
+  # is it conjugate?
+  i:=1;
+  j:=Length(l);
+  while i+1<j and l[i]=-l[j] do
+    i:=i+1;
+    j:=j-1;
+  od;
+  if l[i]<>-l[j] then
+    i:=i-1;
+    j:=j+1;
+  fi;
+  if i>0 then
+    # write as conjugate
+    str:=DoNSAW(l{[i+1..j-1]},names,tseed);
+    if i+2<j or l[i+1]<0 then 
+      # multiple symbols, need parentheses
+      str:=Concatenation("(",str,")");
+    fi;
+    a:=DoNSAW(l{[j..Length(l)]},names,tseed);
+    if j<Length(l) or l[Length(l)]<0 then
+      # multiple symbols, need parentheses
+      a:=Concatenation("(",a,")");
+    fi;
+    str:=Concatenation(str,"^",a);
+    return str;
+  fi;
+
   n:=Length(names);
   if (PRINTWORDPOWERS=true 
    or (IsInt(PRINTWORDPOWERS) and Length(l)<PRINTWORDPOWERS)) and
@@ -229,7 +258,6 @@ local a,n,t,
   a[2]:=Concatenation(tseed,a[2]);
 
   i:= 1;
-  str:= "";
   while i <= Length(word) do
     if i>1 then
       Add( str, '*' );