diff --git a/sphinx/ext/napoleon/docstring.py b/sphinx/ext/napoleon/docstring.py
index 820de6ee4..a371d0cdc 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/napoleon/docstring.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/napoleon/docstring.py
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ _google_section_regex = re.compile(r'^(\s|\w)+:\s*$')
 _google_typed_arg_regex = re.compile(r'\s*(.+?)\s*\(\s*(.*[^\s]+)\s*\)')
 _numpy_section_regex = re.compile(r'^[=\-`:\'"~^_*+#<>]{2,}\s*$')
 _single_colon_regex = re.compile(r'(?<!:):(?!:)')
-_xref_regex = re.compile(r'(:(?:[a-zA-Z0-9]+[\-_+:.])*[a-zA-Z0-9]+:`.+?`)')
+_xref_or_code_regex = re.compile(
+    r'((?::(?:[a-zA-Z0-9]+[\-_+:.])*[a-zA-Z0-9]+:`.+?`)|'
+    r'(?:``.+``))')
 _bullet_list_regex = re.compile(r'^(\*|\+|\-)(\s+\S|\s*$)')
 _enumerated_list_regex = re.compile(
     r'^(?P<paren>\()?'
@@ -728,7 +730,7 @@ class GoogleDocstring:
         after_colon = []
         colon = ''
         found_colon = False
-        for i, source in enumerate(_xref_regex.split(line)):
+        for i, source in enumerate(_xref_or_code_regex.split(line)):
             if found_colon:
                 after_colon.append(source)
             else:
diff --git a/tests/test_ext_napoleon_docstring.py b/tests/test_ext_napoleon_docstring.py
index 160079a50..c4c5f1502 100644
--- a/tests/test_ext_napoleon_docstring.py
+++ b/tests/test_ext_napoleon_docstring.py
@@ -78,15 +78,17 @@ class InlineAttributeTest(BaseDocstringTest):
 
     def test_class_data_member(self):
         config = Config()
-        docstring = """data member description:
+        docstring = dedent("""\
+        data member description:
 
-- a: b
-"""
+        - a: b
+        """)
         actual = str(GoogleDocstring(docstring, config=config, app=None,
                      what='attribute', name='some_data', obj=0))
-        expected = """data member description:
+        expected = dedent("""\
+        data member description:
 
-- a: b"""
+        - a: b""")
 
         self.assertEqual(expected, actual)
 
@@ -95,10 +97,30 @@ class InlineAttributeTest(BaseDocstringTest):
         docstring = """b: data member description with :ref:`reference`"""
         actual = str(GoogleDocstring(docstring, config=config, app=None,
                      what='attribute', name='some_data', obj=0))
-        expected = """data member description with :ref:`reference`
+        expected = dedent("""\
+        data member description with :ref:`reference`
 
-:type: b"""
+        :type: b""")
+        self.assertEqual(expected, actual)
 
+    def test_class_data_member_inline_no_type(self):
+        config = Config()
+        docstring = """data with ``a : in code`` and :ref:`reference` and no type"""
+        actual = str(GoogleDocstring(docstring, config=config, app=None,
+                     what='attribute', name='some_data', obj=0))
+        expected = """data with ``a : in code`` and :ref:`reference` and no type"""
+
+        self.assertEqual(expected, actual)
+
+    def test_class_data_member_inline_ref_in_type(self):
+        config = Config()
+        docstring = """:class:`int`: data member description"""
+        actual = str(GoogleDocstring(docstring, config=config, app=None,
+                     what='attribute', name='some_data', obj=0))
+        expected = dedent("""\
+        data member description
+
+        :type: :class:`int`""")
         self.assertEqual(expected, actual)