diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 14e0f19fb6a7..ad67eb77b4f5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Find utilities when using functions inside arrays ([#15974](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15974))
 - Ensure that `@tailwindcss/browser` does not pollute the global namespace ([#15978](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15978))
 - Fix crash when project lives in the `/` directory ([#15988](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15988))
+- Ensure `@custom-variant` has a non-empty selector list  ([#16009](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/16009))
 - _Upgrade_: Ensure JavaScript config files on different drives are correctly migrated ([#15927](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15927))
 - _Upgrade_: Migrate `leading-[1]` to `leading-none` ([#16004](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/16004))
 - _Upgrade_: Do not migrate arbitrary leading utilities to bare utilities ([#16004](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/16004))
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.test.ts b/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.test.ts
index 0b5851b70c8b..fdf06077bc3c 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.test.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.test.ts
@@ -2514,6 +2514,26 @@ describe('@custom-variant', () => {
     ).rejects.toThrowErrorMatchingInlineSnapshot(`[Error: \`@custom-variant\` cannot be nested.]`)
   })
 
+  test('@custom-variant must not have an empty selector', () => {
+    return expect(
+      compileCss(css`
+        @custom-variant foo ();
+      `),
+    ).rejects.toThrowErrorMatchingInlineSnapshot(
+      `[Error: \`@custom-variant foo ()\` selector is invalid.]`,
+    )
+  })
+
+  test('@custom-variant with multiple selectors, cannot be empty', () => {
+    return expect(
+      compileCss(css`
+        @custom-variant foo (.foo, .bar, );
+      `),
+    ).rejects.toThrowErrorMatchingInlineSnapshot(
+      `[Error: \`@custom-variant foo (.foo, .bar, )\` selector is invalid.]`,
+    )
+  })
+
   test('@custom-variant with no body must include a selector', () => {
     return expect(
       compileCss(css`
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts b/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts
index 3e4bc5a3cce0..77951a3e8591 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts
@@ -281,6 +281,11 @@ async function parseCss(
         }
 
         let selectors = segment(selector.slice(1, -1), ',')
+        if (selectors.length === 0 || selectors.some((selector) => selector.trim() === '')) {
+          throw new Error(
+            `\`@custom-variant ${name} (${selectors.join(',')})\` selector is invalid.`,
+          )
+        }
 
         let atRuleParams: string[] = []
         let styleRuleSelectors: string[] = []