diff --git a/src/main/java/org/pegdown/DefaultVerbatimSerializer.java b/src/main/java/org/pegdown/DefaultVerbatimSerializer.java
index 888fd0d..a81619c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/pegdown/DefaultVerbatimSerializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/pegdown/DefaultVerbatimSerializer.java
@@ -6,11 +6,21 @@
 public class DefaultVerbatimSerializer implements VerbatimSerializer {
     public static final DefaultVerbatimSerializer INSTANCE = new DefaultVerbatimSerializer();
 
+    private final String classPrefix;
+    
+    public DefaultVerbatimSerializer() {
+        this("");
+    }
+    
+    public DefaultVerbatimSerializer(final String classPrefix) {
+        this.classPrefix = classPrefix;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void serialize(final VerbatimNode node, final Printer printer) {
         printer.println().print("<pre><code");
         if (!StringUtils.isEmpty(node.getType())) {
-            printAttribute(printer, "class", node.getType());
+            printAttribute(printer, "class", this.classPrefix+node.getType());
         }
         printer.print(">");
         String text = node.getText();