diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 143ce19dba..39998b3f37 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -388,3 +388,9 @@ option('docs',
   value: false,
   description: 'Enable building C of documentation (Requires doxygen)'
 )
+
+option('embedded-libunibreak',
+  type : 'boolean',
+  value : true,
+  description : 'Use the embedded in-tree libunibreak instead of the system libunibreak.'
+)
diff --git a/src/static_libs/libunibreak/meson.build b/src/static_libs/libunibreak/meson.build
index cca9c1f6a0..55426af711 100644
--- a/src/static_libs/libunibreak/meson.build
+++ b/src/static_libs/libunibreak/meson.build
@@ -1,32 +1,35 @@
+if (get_option('embedded-libunibreak'))
+  libunibreak_src = [
+    'unibreakbase.h',
+    'unibreakdef.h',
+    'linebreak.h',
+    'linebreakdef.h',
+    'wordbreakdef.h',
+    'wordbreak.h',
+    'unibreakbase.c',
+    'unibreakdef.c',
+    'linebreak.c',
+    'linebreakdata.c',
+    'linebreakdef.c',
+    'wordbreak.c',
+    'graphemebreak.c',
+    'graphemebreak.h',
+    'graphemebreakdef.h',
+    'emojidef.h',
+    'emojidef.c',
+  ]
 
-libunibreak_src = [
-  'unibreakbase.h',
-  'unibreakdef.h',
-  'linebreak.h',
-  'linebreakdef.h',
-  'wordbreakdef.h',
-  'wordbreak.h',
-  'unibreakbase.c',
-  'unibreakdef.c',
-  'linebreak.c',
-  'linebreakdata.c',
-  'linebreakdef.c',
-  'wordbreak.c',
-  'graphemebreak.c',
-  'graphemebreak.h',
-  'graphemebreakdef.h',
-  'emojidef.h',
-  'emojidef.c',
-]
+  libunibreak_lib = static_library('libunibreak',
+      libunibreak_src,
+      include_directories : config_dir,
+      install: false,
+  )
 
-libunibreak_lib = static_library('libunibreak',
-    libunibreak_src,
-    include_directories : config_dir,
-    install: false,
-)
-
-libunibreak = declare_dependency(
-  include_directories: [include_directories('.')],
-  link_with: libunibreak_lib,
-  dependencies: [eina],
-)
+  libunibreak = declare_dependency(
+    include_directories: [include_directories('.')],
+    link_with: libunibreak_lib,
+    dependencies: [eina],
+  )
+else
+  libunibreak = dependency('libunibreak', version : '>=4.2')
+endif