diff --git a/src/calibre/__init__.py b/src/calibre/__init__.py
index 3d858548a6..5eaf6f69b4 100644
--- a/src/calibre/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/__init__.py
@@ -449,8 +449,15 @@ def my_unichr(num):
     except (ValueError, OverflowError):
         return '?'
 
+XML_ENTITIES = {
+    '"' : '"',
+    "'" : ''',
+    '<' : '&lt;',
+    '>' : '&gt;',
+    '&' : '&amp;'
+}
 
-def entity_to_unicode(match, exceptions=[], encoding='cp1252',
+def entity_to_unicode(match, exceptions=(), encoding='cp1252',
         result_exceptions={}):
     '''
     :param match: A match object such that '&'+match.group(1)';' is the entity.
@@ -502,12 +509,7 @@ def entity_to_unicode(match, exceptions=[], encoding='cp1252',
 
 
 _ent_pat = re.compile(r'&(\S+?);')
-xml_entity_to_unicode = partial(entity_to_unicode, result_exceptions={
-    '"' : '&quot;',
-    "'" : '&apos;',
-    '<' : '&lt;',
-    '>' : '&gt;',
-    '&' : '&amp;'})
+xml_entity_to_unicode = partial(entity_to_unicode, result_exceptions=XML_ENTITIES)
 
 
 def replace_entities(raw, encoding='cp1252'):
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.c b/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.c
index 8b1b9ac9bd..9dfb8c479c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.c
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.c
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ replace(const char *input, size_t input_sz, char *output, int keep_xml_entities)
 }
 
 static PyObject*
-replace_entities(PyObject *self, PyObject *const *args, Py_ssize_t nargs) {
+replace_all_entities(PyObject *self, PyObject *const *args, Py_ssize_t nargs) {
     if (nargs < 1) { PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Must specify string tp process"); return NULL; }
     const char *input = NULL; Py_ssize_t input_sz = 0;
     int keep_xml_entities = false;
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ replace_entities(PyObject *self, PyObject *const *args, Py_ssize_t nargs) {
 }
 
 static PyMethodDef methods[] = {
-    {"replace_entities", (PyCFunction)replace_entities, METH_FASTCALL,
-     "Replace entities in the specified string"
+    {"replace_all_entities", (PyCFunction)replace_all_entities, METH_FASTCALL,
+     "Replace all entities in the specified string"
     },
     {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}
 };
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.py
index 8e60cac80b..239f09e2f5 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/html_entities.py
@@ -2139,11 +2139,11 @@ def find_tests():
     import unittest
     class TestHTMLEntityReplacement(unittest.TestCase):
         def test_html_entity_replacement(self):
-            from calibre_extensions.fast_html_entities import replace_entities
+            from calibre_extensions.fast_html_entities import replace_all_entities
             def t(inp, exp):
-                self.assertEqual(exp, replace_entities(inp), f'Failed for input: {inp!r}')
+                self.assertEqual(exp, replace_all_entities(inp), f'Failed for input: {inp!r}')
             def x(inp, exp):
-                self.assertEqual(exp, replace_entities(inp, True), f'Failed for input: {inp!r}')
+                self.assertEqual(exp, replace_all_entities(inp, True), f'Failed for input: {inp!r}')
             t('a&#1234;b', 'aӒb')
             t('', '')
             t('a', 'a')