diff --git a/config.make.in b/config.make.in
index 74850371b..f5954eb2c 100644
--- a/config.make.in
+++ b/config.make.in
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ datarootdir = @datarootdir@
 sysconfdir = @sysconfdir@
 
 CC = @CC@
-CFLAGS = @CFLAGS@ @COVERAGE_CFLAGS@
+CFLAGS = @CFLAGS@ @ICU_CFLAGS@ @COVERAGE_CFLAGS@
 CPPFLAGS = @CPPFLAGS@ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H
-LDFLAGS = @LDFLAGS@
-LDLIBS = @LIBS@ @CURSES_LIBS@
+LDFLAGS = @LDFLAGS@ @ICU_LDFLAGS@
+LDLIBS = @LIBS@ @ICU_LIBS@ @CURSES_LIBS@
 
 ASCIIDOC = @ASCIIDOC@
 XMLTO = @XMLTO@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4b914e821..aaba44f09 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ AC_SUBST(CURSES_LIBS)
 
 AX_LIB_READLINE(6.2)
 
+AX_WITH_ICU([48.0], [icu-uc])
+
 AM_ICONV
 
 AC_CHECK_PROGS(SED, [gsed], [sed])
diff --git a/include/tig/tig.h b/include/tig/tig.h
index d4299b400..07cfe57ad 100644
--- a/include/tig/tig.h
+++ b/include/tig/tig.h
@@ -87,6 +87,13 @@
 #  include <curses.h>
 #endif
 
+#ifdef HAVE_ICU
+#define U_CHARSET_IS_UTF8 1
+#include <unicode/utypes.h>
+#include <unicode/uchar.h>
+#include <unicode/utf8.h>
+#endif
+
 #ifdef TRUE
 #undef TRUE
 #endif
diff --git a/tools/ax_with_icu.m4 b/tools/ax_with_icu.m4
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c2a9f25ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/ax_with_icu.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+dnl Copyright (c) 2006-2017 Jonas Fonseca <jonas.fonseca@gmail.com>
+dnl
+dnl This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+dnl modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
+dnl published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
+dnl the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+dnl
+dnl This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+dnl but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+dnl MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+dnl GNU General Public License for more details.
+dnl
+dnl SYNOPSIS
+dnl
+dnl	AX_WITH_ICU([version, [components]])
+dnl
+dnl	  version default value is 0
+dnl
+dnl	  components default value is icu-uc
+dnl
+dnl DESCRIPTION
+dnl
+dnl	Defines
+dnl
+dnl	  ICU_CFLAGS
+dnl	  ICU_LDFLAGS
+dnl	  ICU_LIBS
+dnl
+dnl	If pkg-config fails, falls back to the deprecated icu-config
+dnl	utility.  icu-config is not capable of selecting a subset of
+dnl	components to link, and will ignore the "components" argument
+dnl	to the macro.
+dnl
+dnl	Components recognized by pkg-config are:
+dnl
+dnl	  icu-uc	Common (uc) and Data (dt/data) libraries
+dnl	  icu-i18n	Internationalization (in/i18n) library
+dnl	  icu-lx	Paragraph Layout library
+dnl	  icu-io	Ustdio/iostream library (icuio)
+dnl
+dnl	The user may override the location of pkg-config or icu-config
+dnl	via environment variables $PKG_CONFIG and $ICU_CONFIG.
+dnl
+dnl EXAMPLE
+dnl
+dnl	AX_WITH_ICU([50.0], [icu-uc icu-i18n])
+dnl
+
+AC_DEFUN([AX_WITH_ICU], [
+	AC_ARG_WITH([icu], AS_HELP_STRING([--with-icu], [Build with libicu support]))
+
+	_libicu_min_version="$1"
+	_libicu_components="$2"
+	test x = x"$_libicu_min_version" && _libicu_min_version=0
+	test x = x"$_libicu_components"  && _libicu_components=icu-uc
+
+	_libicu_pkg_config="${PKG_CONFIG:-pkg-config}"
+	_libicu_icu_config="${ICU_CONFIG:-icu-config}"
+
+	AC_SUBST(ICU_CFLAGS)
+	AC_SUBST(ICU_LDFLAGS)
+	AC_SUBST(ICU_LIBS)
+
+	AS_IF([test "x$with_icu" = "xyes"], [
+
+		AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether pkg-config can query libicu])
+		AS_IF([test x != x"$("$_libicu_pkg_config" --modversion icu-uc 2>/dev/null)"], [
+			AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+		], [ dnl else
+			AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+			AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether icu-config can query libicu])
+			AS_IF([test x != x"$("$_libicu_icu_config" --version 2>/dev/null)"], [
+				AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+			], [ dnl else
+				AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+				AC_MSG_ERROR([neither pkg-config nor icu-config is able to query local libicu configuration])
+			])
+		])
+
+		AC_MSG_CHECKING([for libicu version >= $_libicu_min_version])
+		ICU_VERSION="$(("$_libicu_pkg_config" --modversion "$_libicu_components" 2>/dev/null || "$_libicu_icu_config" --version || printf "%s\n" "-1") | head -1)"
+		AS_IF([test x"$(expr "$ICU_VERSION" ">=" "$_libicu_min_version")" = x1], [
+
+			# libicu success
+			AC_MSG_RESULT([$ICU_VERSION])
+			AC_DEFINE(HAVE_ICU, [1], [Define to 1 if libicu is present])
+			ICU_CFLAGS="$( "$_libicu_pkg_config" --cflags      "$_libicu_components" 2>/dev/null || "$_libicu_icu_config" --cflags)"
+			ICU_LDFLAGS="$("$_libicu_pkg_config" --libs-only-L "$_libicu_components" 2>/dev/null || "$_libicu_icu_config" --ldflags-searchpath)"
+			ICU_LIBS="$(   "$_libicu_pkg_config" --libs-only-l "$_libicu_components" 2>/dev/null || "$_libicu_icu_config" --ldflags-libsonly)"
+
+		], [ dnl else
+			AC_MSG_RESULT([$ICU_VERSION])
+			AC_MSG_ERROR([required libicu version not found])
+		])
+
+	])
+])