diff --git a/spec-dtslint/operators/pluck-spec.ts b/spec-dtslint/operators/pluck-spec.ts
index d257f26d9b..a4ef259c09 100644
--- a/spec-dtslint/operators/pluck-spec.ts
+++ b/spec-dtslint/operators/pluck-spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { of } from 'rxjs';
+import { of, Observable } from 'rxjs';
 import { pluck } from 'rxjs/operators';
 
 it('should infer correctly', () => {
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ it('should accept string only', () => {
   const a = of({ name: 'abc' }).pipe(pluck(1)); // $ExpectError
 });
 
+it('should not infer type from the variable if key doesn\'t exist', () => {
+  const a: Observable<number> = of({ name: 'abc' }).pipe(pluck('xyz')); // $ExpectError
+});
+
 it('should accept a spread of arguments', () => {
   const obj = {
     foo: {
diff --git a/src/internal/operators/pluck.ts b/src/internal/operators/pluck.ts
index 2cb5fb0b51..eef435184f 100644
--- a/src/internal/operators/pluck.ts
+++ b/src/internal/operators/pluck.ts
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ export function pluck<T, K1 extends keyof T, K2 extends keyof T[K1], K3 extends
 export function pluck<T, K1 extends keyof T, K2 extends keyof T[K1], K3 extends keyof T[K1][K2], K4 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3]>(k1: K1, k2: K2, k3: K3, k4: K4): OperatorFunction<T, T[K1][K2][K3][K4]>;
 export function pluck<T, K1 extends keyof T, K2 extends keyof T[K1], K3 extends keyof T[K1][K2], K4 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3], K5 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4]>(k1: K1, k2: K2, k3: K3, k4: K4, k5: K5): OperatorFunction<T, T[K1][K2][K3][K4][K5]>;
 export function pluck<T, K1 extends keyof T, K2 extends keyof T[K1], K3 extends keyof T[K1][K2], K4 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3], K5 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4], K6 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4][K5]>(k1: K1, k2: K2, k3: K3, k4: K4, k5: K5, k6: K6): OperatorFunction<T, T[K1][K2][K3][K4][K5][K6]>;
-export function pluck<T, K1 extends keyof T, K2 extends keyof T[K1], K3 extends keyof T[K1][K2], K4 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3], K5 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4], K6 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4][K5], R>(k1: K1, k2: K2, k3: K3, k4: K4, k5: K5, k6: K6, ...rest: string[]): OperatorFunction<T, R>;
-export function pluck<T, R= unknown>(...properties: string[]): OperatorFunction<T, R>;
+export function pluck<T, K1 extends keyof T, K2 extends keyof T[K1], K3 extends keyof T[K1][K2], K4 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3], K5 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4], K6 extends keyof T[K1][K2][K3][K4][K5]>(k1: K1, k2: K2, k3: K3, k4: K4, k5: K5, k6: K6, ...rest: string[]): OperatorFunction<T, unknown>;
+export function pluck<T>(...properties: string[]): OperatorFunction<T, unknown>;
 /* tslint:enable:max-line-length */
 
 /**