diff --git a/.changeset/navigation-menu-stick-on-hover-then-click.md b/.changeset/navigation-menu-stick-on-hover-then-click.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f52a0fa275
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/navigation-menu-stick-on-hover-then-click.md
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+'@radix-ui/react-navigation-menu': patch
+---
+
+Keep dropdown open on click after hover-open.
+
+Previously, hovering a trigger opened the dropdown but a subsequent click on the same trigger closed it, because `onItemSelect` toggled state based purely on whether the current open value matched the trigger — with no notion of how the menu was opened. The trigger now swallows a click when it was just opened by hover, so the dropdown sticks open. Subsequent clicks still toggle closed; click-to-open on a closed trigger is unchanged.
+
+For folks comparing primitives in the shadcn ecosystem, Base UI's `NavigationMenuTrigger` gets the same behavior via Floating UI's `useClick({ stickIfOpen })`.
diff --git a/cypress/e2e/NavigationMenu.cy.ts b/cypress/e2e/NavigationMenu.cy.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..803d5c5056
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cypress/e2e/NavigationMenu.cy.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+describe('NavigationMenu — click-after-hover sticks open', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    cy.visitStory('navigationmenu--basic');
+  });
+
+  it('hover → click on same trigger keeps dropdown open', () => {
+    cy.findByText('Products').realHover();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+    cy.findByText('Products').realClick();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+  });
+
+  it('click on closed trigger opens it (regression)', () => {
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'closed');
+    cy.findByText('Products').realClick();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+  });
+
+  it('click on click-opened trigger toggles closed (regression)', () => {
+    cy.findByText('Products').realClick();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+    cy.findByText('Products').realClick();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'closed');
+  });
+
+  it('hover A → hover B opens B and closes A (regression)', () => {
+    cy.findByText('Products').realHover();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+    cy.findByText('Company').realHover();
+    cy.findByText('Company').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'closed');
+  });
+
+  it('hover → leave → re-hover → click sticks open (ref reset)', () => {
+    cy.findByText('Products').realHover();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+    cy.findByText('Link').realHover();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'closed');
+    cy.findByText('Products').realHover();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+    cy.findByText('Products').realClick();
+    cy.findByText('Products').should('have.attr', 'data-state', 'open');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/react/navigation-menu/src/navigation-menu.tsx b/packages/react/navigation-menu/src/navigation-menu.tsx
index f4e3db8028..9ccad977fc 100644
--- a/packages/react/navigation-menu/src/navigation-menu.tsx
+++ b/packages/react/navigation-menu/src/navigation-menu.tsx
@@ -528,6 +528,10 @@ const NavigationMenuTrigger = React.forwardRef<
               }),
             )}
             onClick={composeEventHandlers(props.onClick, () => {
+              if (open && hasPointerMoveOpenedRef.current) {
+                hasPointerMoveOpenedRef.current = false;
+                return;
+              }
               context.onItemSelect(itemContext.value);
               wasClickCloseRef.current = open;
             })}