diff --git a/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py b/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
index f57c1cd5543ba..bea99a741fd6f 100644
--- a/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
+++ b/pandas/core/arrays/categorical.py
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@
 )
 from pandas.compat.numpy import function as nv
 from pandas.util._decorators import (
-    cache_readonly,
     deprecate_kwarg,
     deprecate_nonkeyword_arguments,
 )