diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index d29c132b..a7d3feb7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -326,6 +326,11 @@ PKG_CHECK_MODULES([OPENSSL], [openssl], [
 	])
 ])
 
+dnl **
+dnl ** utf8proc
+dnl **
+AC_CHECK_LIB([utf8proc], [utf8proc_version])
+
 dnl **
 dnl ** curses checks
 dnl **
@@ -815,7 +820,7 @@ echo "Building with 64bit DCC support .. : $offt_64bit"
 echo "Building with true color support.. : $want_truecolor"
 echo "Building with GRegex ............. : $want_gregex"
 echo "Building with Capsicum ........... : $want_capsicum"
-
+echo "Building with utf8proc ........... : $ac_cv_lib_utf8proc_utf8proc_version"
 if test "x$want_otr" = "xstatic"; then
 	echo "Building with OTR support ........ : static (in irssi binary)"
 elif test "x$want_otr" = "xmodule"; then
diff --git a/src/core/wcwidth-wrapper.c b/src/core/wcwidth-wrapper.c
index e08707e9..7b0a4def 100644
--- a/src/core/wcwidth-wrapper.c
+++ b/src/core/wcwidth-wrapper.c
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@
 #include "settings.h"
 #include "utf8.h"
 
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBUTF8PROC
+#include <utf8proc.h>
+#endif
+
 /* wcwidth=2 since unicode 5.2.0 */
 #define UNICODE_SQUARE_HIRAGANA_HOKA 0x1F200
 
@@ -35,7 +39,10 @@
 enum {
 	WCWIDTH_IMPL_AUTO = 0,
 	WCWIDTH_IMPL_OLD,
-	WCWIDTH_IMPL_SYSTEM,
+	WCWIDTH_IMPL_SYSTEM
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBUTF8PROC
+	,WCWIDTH_IMPL_JULIA
+#endif
 };
 
 WCWIDTH_FUNC wcwidth_impl_func = mk_wcwidth;
@@ -99,13 +106,23 @@ static void read_settings(void)
 	case WCWIDTH_IMPL_SYSTEM:
 		wcwidth_impl_func = &system_wcwidth;
 		break;
+
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBUTF8PROC
+	case WCWIDTH_IMPL_JULIA:
+		wcwidth_impl_func = (WCWIDTH_FUNC) &utf8proc_charwidth;
+		break;
+#endif
 	}
 
 }
 
 void wcwidth_wrapper_init(void)
 {
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBUTF8PROC
+	settings_add_choice("misc", "wcwidth_implementation", WCWIDTH_IMPL_AUTO, "auto;old;system;julia");
+#else
 	settings_add_choice("misc", "wcwidth_implementation", WCWIDTH_IMPL_AUTO, "auto;old;system");
+#endif
 
 	read_settings();
 	signal_add("setup changed", (SIGNAL_FUNC) read_settings);