"path/filepath"
        "strings"
 
+       "github.com/gohugoio/hugo/common/types"
+
        "github.com/gobwas/glob"
        hglob "github.com/gohugoio/hugo/hugofs/glob"
 
                }
        }
 
+       const delim = "__env__delim"
+
        // Apply environment overrides
        if len(d.Environ) > 0 {
-               // Extract all that start with the HUGO_ prefix
-               const hugoEnvPrefix = "HUGO_"
-               var hugoEnv []string
+               // Extract all that start with the HUGO prefix.
+               // The delimiter is the following rune, usually "_".
+               const hugoEnvPrefix = "HUGO"
+               var hugoEnv []types.KeyValueStr
                for _, v := range d.Environ {
                        key, val := config.SplitEnvVar(v)
                        if strings.HasPrefix(key, hugoEnvPrefix) {
-                               hugoEnv = append(hugoEnv, strings.ToLower(strings.TrimPrefix(key, hugoEnvPrefix)), val)
+                               delimiterAndKey := strings.TrimPrefix(key, hugoEnvPrefix)
+                               if len(delimiterAndKey) < 2 {
+                                       continue
+                               }
+                               // Allow delimiters to be case sensitive.
+                               // It turns out there isn't that many allowed special
+                               // chars in environment variables when used in Bash and similar,
+                               // so variables on the form HUGOxPARAMSxFOO=bar is one option.
+                               key := strings.ReplaceAll(delimiterAndKey[1:], delimiterAndKey[:1], delim)
+                               key = strings.ToLower(key)
+                               hugoEnv = append(hugoEnv, types.KeyValueStr{
+                                       Key:   key,
+                                       Value: val,
+                               })
+
                        }
                }
 
-               if len(hugoEnv) > 0 {
-                       for i := 0; i < len(hugoEnv); i += 2 {
-                               key, valStr := strings.ToLower(hugoEnv[i]), hugoEnv[i+1]
+               for _, env := range hugoEnv {
+                       existing, nestedKey, owner, err := maps.GetNestedParamFn(env.Key, delim, v.Get)
+                       if err != nil {
+                               return v, configFiles, err
+                       }
 
-                               existing, nestedKey, owner, err := maps.GetNestedParamFn(key, "_", v.Get)
+                       if existing != nil {
+                               val, err := metadecoders.Default.UnmarshalStringTo(env.Value, existing)
                                if err != nil {
-                                       return v, configFiles, err
+                                       continue
                                }
 
-                               if existing != nil {
-                                       val, err := metadecoders.Default.UnmarshalStringTo(valStr, existing)
-                                       if err != nil {
-                                               continue
-                                       }
-
-                                       if owner != nil {
-                                               owner[nestedKey] = val
-                                       } else {
-                                               v.Set(key, val)
-                                       }
-                               } else if nestedKey != "" {
-                                       owner[nestedKey] = valStr
+                               if owner != nil {
+                                       owner[nestedKey] = val
                                } else {
-                                       v.Set(key, valStr)
+                                       v.Set(env.Key, val)
                                }
+                       } else if nestedKey != "" {
+                               owner[nestedKey] = env.Value
+                       } else {
+                               v.Set(env.Key, env.Value)
                        }
                }
+
        }
 
        // We made this a Glob pattern in Hugo 0.75, we don't need both.
 
 floatSlice = [3.14, 5.19]
 stringSlice = ["a", "b"]
 
+[params]
+[params.api_config]
+api_key="default_key"
+another_key="default another_key"
+
 [imaging]
 anchor = "smart"
 quality = 75 
                "HUGO_STRINGSLICE", `["c", "d"]`,
                "HUGO_INTSLICE", `[5, 8, 9]`,
                "HUGO_FLOATSLICE", `[5.32]`,
+               // https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/7829
+               "HUGOxPARAMSxAPI_CONFIGxAPI_KEY", "new_key",
+               // Delimiters are case sensitive.
+               "HUGOxPARAMSxAPI_CONFIGXANOTHER_KEY", "another_key",
        )
 
        b.Build(BuildCfg{})
        c.Assert(cfg.Get("stringSlice"), qt.DeepEquals, []interface{}{"c", "d"})
        c.Assert(cfg.Get("floatSlice"), qt.DeepEquals, []interface{}{5.32})
        c.Assert(cfg.Get("intSlice"), qt.DeepEquals, []interface{}{5, 8, 9})
+       c.Assert(cfg.Get("params.api_config.api_key"), qt.Equals, "new_key")
+       c.Assert(cfg.Get("params.api_config.another_key"), qt.Equals, "default another_key")
 
 }