diff --git a/hy/core/language.hy b/hy/core/language.hy
index d9405cd..ef80379 100644
--- a/hy/core/language.hy
+++ b/hy/core/language.hy
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
   (import [StringIO [StringIO]])
   (import [io [StringIO]]))
 (import [hy._compat [long-type]]) ; long for python2, int for python3
-(import [hy.models [HyCons HySymbol HyKeyword *keyword-prefix*]])
+(import [hy.models [HyCons HySymbol HyKeyword]])
 (import [hy.lex [LexException PrematureEndOfInput tokenize]])
 (import [hy.compiler [HyASTCompiler]])
 
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@
 (defn keyword [value]
   "Create a keyword from the given value. Strings numbers and even objects
   with the __name__ magic will work"
-  (if (and (string? value) (value.startswith *keyword-prefix*))
+  (if (and (string? value) (value.startswith HyKeyword.PREFIX))
     (hyify value)
     (if (string? value)
       (HyKeyword (+ ":" (hyify value)))
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@
 (defn name [value]
   "Convert the given value to a string. Keyword special character will be stripped.
   String will be used as is. Even objects with the __name__ magic will work"
-  (if (and (string? value) (value.startswith *keyword-prefix*))
+  (if (and (string? value) (value.startswith HyKeyword.PREFIX))
     (hyify (cut value 2))
     (if (string? value)
       (hyify value)
diff --git a/hy/models.py b/hy/models.py
index fcfeca8..473d88a 100644
--- a/hy/models.py
+++ b/hy/models.py
@@ -96,17 +96,16 @@ _wrappers[bool] = lambda x: HySymbol("True") if x else HySymbol("False")
 _wrappers[type(None)] = lambda foo: HySymbol("None")
 
 
-KEYWORD_PREFIX = "\uFDD0"
-
-
 class HyKeyword(HyObject, str_type):
     """Generic Hy Keyword object. It's either a ``str`` or a ``unicode``,
     depending on the Python version.
     """
 
+    PREFIX = "\uFDD0"
+
     def __new__(cls, value):
-        if not value.startswith(KEYWORD_PREFIX):
-            value = KEYWORD_PREFIX + value
+        if not value.startswith(cls.PREFIX):
+            value = cls.PREFIX + value
 
         obj = str_type.__new__(cls, value)
         return obj