diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
index 3be60739..8ddf2292 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ module Jekyll
           include CommonMethods
 
           def code_wrap(code)
-            "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre>#{CGI::escapeHTML(code)}</pre></div>"
+            "<figure class=\"highlight\"><pre>#{CGI::escapeHTML(code)}</pre></figure>"
           end
 
           def block_code(code, lang)
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index 5589d38f..e644146f 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ eos
           "class=\"language-#{@lang.to_s.gsub('+', '-')}\"",
           "data-lang=\"#{@lang.to_s}\""
         ].join(" ")
-        "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code #{code_attributes}>#{code.chomp}</code></pre></div>"
+        "<figure class=\"highlight\"><pre><code #{code_attributes}>#{code.chomp}</code></pre></figure>"
       end
 
     end
diff --git a/test/test_redcarpet.rb b/test/test_redcarpet.rb
index bb2d3214..528bc8a3 100644
--- a/test/test_redcarpet.rb
+++ b/test/test_redcarpet.rb
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ puts "Hello world"
       end
 
       should "render fenced code blocks without syntax highlighting" do
-        assert_equal "<div class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"language-ruby\" data-lang=\"ruby\">puts &quot;Hello world&quot;\n</code></pre></div>", @markdown.convert(
+        assert_equal "<figure class=\"highlight\"><pre><code class=\"language-ruby\" data-lang=\"ruby\">puts &quot;Hello world&quot;\n</code></pre></figure>", @markdown.convert(
           <<-EOS
 ```ruby
 puts "Hello world"