diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 0b02c63b5..f67ad2d91 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -190,6 +190,9 @@ endif
 
 if icu_dep.found()
   conf.set('HAVE_ICU', 1)
+endif
+
+if get_option('icu-builtin')
   conf.set('HAVE_ICU_BUILTIN', 1)
 endif
 
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index a4b845bf0..78b7f7ec0 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -26,5 +26,7 @@ option('tests', type : 'feature', value : 'auto', yield : true,
 option('introspection', type : 'feature', value : 'disabled', yield : true,
   description : 'Generate gobject-introspection bindings (.gir/.typelib files)')
 
+option('icu-builtin', type: 'boolean', value: false,
+  description: 'Don\'t separate ICU support as harfbuzz-icu module')
 option('amalgam', type : 'boolean', value : false,
   description : 'Enable amalgam builds')
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 96d4365fe..62ae6fbc2 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -325,6 +325,15 @@ if get_option('amalgam')
   hb_sources = ['harfbuzz.cc']
 endif
 
+have_icu = conf.get('HAVE_ICU', 0) == 1
+have_icu_builtin = conf.get('HAVE_ICU_BUILTIN', 0) == 1
+
+if have_icu and have_icu_builtin
+  hb_sources += hb_icu_sources
+  hb_headers += hb_icu_headers
+  deps += [icu_dep]
+endif
+
 # harfbuzz
 gen_def = find_program('gen-def.py')
 harfbuzz_def = custom_target('harfbuzz.def',
@@ -485,9 +494,7 @@ pkgmod.generate(libharfbuzz_subset,
   version: meson.project_version(),
 )
 
-have_icu = conf.get('HAVE_ICU', 0) == 1
-
-if have_icu
+if have_icu and not have_icu_builtin
   libharfbuzz_icu = library('harfbuzz-icu', [hb_icu_sources, hb_icu_headers],
     include_directories: incconfig,
     dependencies: icu_dep,
diff --git a/test/api/meson.build b/test/api/meson.build
index 0aba7940a..2bfea39d8 100644
--- a/test/api/meson.build
+++ b/test/api/meson.build
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ if conf.get('HAVE_GLIB', 0) == 1
     test(test_name, executable(test_name, source,
       include_directories: [incconfig, incsrc],
       dependencies: deps,
-      link_with: [libharfbuzz, libharfbuzz_icu],
+      link_with: have_icu_builtin ? [libharfbuzz] : [libharfbuzz, libharfbuzz_icu],
       install: false,
     ), env: env)
   endforeach