diff --git a/Lib/threading.py b/Lib/threading.py
index 178c8fd33ca..24808d43b83 100644
--- a/Lib/threading.py
+++ b/Lib/threading.py
@@ -50,8 +50,14 @@ if __debug__:
         def _note(self, format, *args):
             if self._verbose:
                 format = format % args
-                format = "%s: %s\n" % (
-                    current_thread().name, format)
+                # Issue #4188: calling current_thread() can incur an infinite
+                # recursion if it has to create a DummyThread on the fly.
+                ident = _get_ident()
+                try:
+                    name = _active[ident].name
+                except KeyError:
+                    name = "<OS thread %d>" % ident
+                format = "%s: %s\n" % (name, format)
                 _sys.stderr.write(format)
 
 else:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index a49b34488c0..e53aff0dcba 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ Core and Builtins
 
 Library
 -------
+
+- Issue #4188: Avoid creating dummy thread objects when logging operations
+  from the threading module (with the internal verbose flag activated).
+
 - Issue #9721: Fix the behavior of urljoin when the relative url starts with a
   ';' character. Patch by Wes Chow.