diff --git a/src/helpers.js b/src/helpers.js
index ca2803dd..a81a67ca 100644
--- a/src/helpers.js
+++ b/src/helpers.js
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ function dotPathToHash(entry, target = {}, options = {}) {
 
   // There is no key to process so we return an empty object
   if (!key) {
-    target[entry.namespace] = {}
+    if (!target[entry.namespace]) {
+      target[entry.namespace] = {}
+    }
     return { target, duplicate, conflict }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/locales/en/test_empty.json b/test/locales/en/test_empty.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c991eb36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/locales/en/test_empty.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "key": ""
+}
diff --git a/test/parser.test.js b/test/parser.test.js
index 3b7b3877..228c0517 100644
--- a/test/parser.test.js
+++ b/test/parser.test.js
@@ -328,6 +328,30 @@ describe('parser', () => {
     i18nextParser.end(fakeFile)
   })
 
+  it.only('does not overwrite the namespace file if it already exists', (done) => {
+    let resultContent
+    const i18nextParser = new i18nTransform({
+      locales: ['en'],
+      defaultNamespace: 'test_empty',
+    })
+    const fakeFile = new Vinyl({
+      contents: Buffer.from("t('key'); t('');"),
+      path: 'file.js',
+    })
+
+    i18nextParser.on('data', (file) => {
+      if (file.relative.endsWith(path.normalize('en/test_empty.json'))) {
+        resultContent = JSON.parse(file.contents)
+      }
+    })
+    i18nextParser.on('end', () => {
+      assert.deepEqual(resultContent, { key: '' })
+      done()
+    })
+
+    i18nextParser.end(fakeFile)
+  })
+
   it('applies withTranslation namespace globally', (done) => {
     let result
     const i18nextParser = new i18nTransform()