diff --git a/src/buffer.cc b/src/buffer.cc
index 7c7a4e63..aa6314d6 100644
--- a/src/buffer.cc
+++ b/src/buffer.cc
@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@
 
 #include "assert.hh"
 #include "buffer_manager.hh"
+#include "client.hh"
 #include "context.hh"
 #include "file.hh"
+#include "interned_string.hh"
 #include "utils.hh"
 #include "window.hh"
-#include "client.hh"
 
 #include <algorithm>
 
@@ -170,9 +171,9 @@ struct Buffer::Modification
 
     Type      type;
     ByteCoord coord;
-    String    content;
+    InternedString content;
 
-    Modification(Type type, ByteCoord coord, String content)
+    Modification(Type type, ByteCoord coord, InternedString content)
         : type(type), coord(coord), content(std::move(content)) {}
 
     Modification inverse() const
@@ -240,7 +241,7 @@ void Buffer::check_invariant() const
 #endif
 }
 
-ByteCoord Buffer::do_insert(ByteCoord pos, const String& content)
+ByteCoord Buffer::do_insert(ByteCoord pos, StringView content)
 {
     kak_assert(is_valid(pos));
 
@@ -341,7 +342,7 @@ ByteCoord Buffer::do_erase(ByteCoord begin, ByteCoord end)
 
 void Buffer::apply_modification(const Modification& modification)
 {
-    const String& content = modification.content;
+    StringView content = modification.content;
     ByteCoord coord = modification.coord;
 
     kak_assert(is_valid(coord));
diff --git a/src/buffer.hh b/src/buffer.hh
index 17e0e4c7..e24bc786 100644
--- a/src/buffer.hh
+++ b/src/buffer.hh
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ private:
     };
     LineList m_lines;
 
-    ByteCoord do_insert(ByteCoord pos, const String& content);
+    ByteCoord do_insert(ByteCoord pos, StringView content);
     ByteCoord do_erase(ByteCoord begin, ByteCoord end);
 
     String  m_name;
diff --git a/src/interned_string.cc b/src/interned_string.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b8825f66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/interned_string.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#include "interned_string.hh"
+
+namespace Kakoune
+{
+
+InternedString StringRegistry::acquire(StringView str)
+{
+    auto it = m_slot_map.find(str);
+    if (it == m_slot_map.end())
+    {
+        size_t slot;
+        if (not m_free_slots.empty())
+        {
+            slot = m_free_slots.back();
+            m_free_slots.pop_back();
+            m_storage[slot] = DataAndRefCount({str.begin(), str.end()}, 1);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            slot = m_storage.size();
+            m_storage.push_back(DataAndRefCount({str.begin(), str.end()}, 1));
+        }
+        // Create a new string view that point to the storage data
+        StringView storage_view{m_storage[slot].first.data(), (int)m_storage[slot].first.size()};
+        m_slot_map[storage_view] = slot;
+
+        return InternedString{storage_view, InternedString::AlreadyAcquired{}};
+    }
+
+    size_t slot = it->second;
+    m_storage[slot].second++;
+    StringView storage_view{m_storage[slot].first.data(), (int)m_storage[slot].first.size()};
+    return InternedString{storage_view, InternedString::AlreadyAcquired{}};
+}
+
+void StringRegistry::release(StringView str)
+{
+    auto it = m_slot_map.find(str);
+    kak_assert(it != m_slot_map.end());
+
+    size_t slot = it->second;
+    if (--m_storage[slot].second == 0)
+    {
+        m_free_slots.push_back(slot);
+        m_slot_map.erase(it);
+        m_storage[slot].first.clear();
+    }
+}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/interned_string.hh b/src/interned_string.hh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5d81afd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/interned_string.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+#ifndef interned_string_hh_INCLUDED
+#define interned_string_hh_INCLUDED
+
+#include "string.hh"
+#include "utils.hh"
+
+#include <unordered_map>
+
+namespace Kakoune
+{
+
+class InternedString;
+
+class StringRegistry : public Singleton<StringRegistry>
+{
+private:
+    friend class InternedString;
+
+    InternedString acquire(StringView str);
+    void release(StringView str);
+
+    std::unordered_map<StringView, size_t> m_slot_map;
+    std::vector<size_t> m_free_slots;
+    using DataAndRefCount = std::pair<std::vector<char>, int>;
+    std::vector<DataAndRefCount> m_storage;
+};
+
+class InternedString : public StringView
+{
+public:
+    InternedString() = default;
+
+    InternedString(const InternedString& str) { acquire_ifn(str); }
+
+    InternedString(InternedString&& str) : StringView(str)
+    {
+        static_cast<StringView&>(str) = StringView{};
+    }
+
+    InternedString(const char* str) : StringView() { acquire_ifn(str); }
+    InternedString(StringView str) : StringView() { acquire_ifn(str); }
+    InternedString(const String& str) : StringView() { acquire_ifn(str); }
+
+    InternedString& operator=(const InternedString& str)
+    {
+        if (str.data() == data() && str.length() == length())
+            return *this;
+        release_ifn();
+        acquire_ifn(str);
+        return *this;
+    }
+
+    InternedString& operator=(InternedString&& str)
+    {
+        static_cast<StringView&>(*this) = str;
+        static_cast<StringView&>(str) = StringView{};
+        return *this;
+    }
+
+    ~InternedString()
+    {
+        release_ifn();
+    }
+
+    bool operator==(const InternedString& str) const
+    { return data() == str.data() && length() == str.length(); }
+    bool operator!=(const InternedString& str) const
+    { return !(*this == str); }
+
+    using StringView::operator==;
+    using StringView::operator!=;
+
+private:
+    friend class StringRegistry;
+
+    struct AlreadyAcquired{};
+    InternedString(StringView str, AlreadyAcquired)
+        : StringView(str) {}
+
+    void acquire_ifn(StringView str)
+    {
+        if (str.empty())
+            static_cast<StringView&>(*this) = StringView{};
+        else
+            *this = StringRegistry::instance().acquire(str);
+    }
+
+    void release_ifn()
+    {
+        if (!empty())
+            StringRegistry::instance().release(*this);
+    }
+};
+
+}
+
+namespace std
+{
+    template<>
+    struct hash<Kakoune::InternedString>
+    {
+        size_t operator()(const Kakoune::InternedString& str) const
+        {
+            return hash<const char*>{}(str.data()) ^
+                   hash<int>{}((int)str.length());
+        }
+    };
+}
+
+#endif // interned_string_hh_INCLUDED
+
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index 32ed0c0c..654d3dc5 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "remote.hh"
 #include "shell_manager.hh"
 #include "string.hh"
+#include "interned_string.hh"
 #include "window.hh"
 
 #if defined(__APPLE__)
@@ -303,6 +304,7 @@ int run_server(StringView session, StringView init_command,
         signal(SIGTERM, [](int) { terminate = true; });
     }
 
+    StringRegistry      string_registry;
     EventManager        event_manager;
     GlobalOptions       global_options;
     GlobalHooks         global_hooks;
diff --git a/src/string.cc b/src/string.cc
index abc95ab4..172193d4 100644
--- a/src/string.cc
+++ b/src/string.cc
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@
 namespace Kakoune
 {
 
+bool operator<(StringView lhs, StringView rhs)
+{
+    int cmp = strncmp(lhs.data(), rhs.data(), (int)std::min(lhs.length(), rhs.length()));
+    if (cmp == 0)
+        return lhs.length() < rhs.length();
+    return cmp < 0;
+}
+
 std::vector<String> split(StringView str, char separator, char escape)
 {
     std::vector<String> res;
@@ -139,4 +147,64 @@ String expand_tabs(StringView line, CharCount tabstop, CharCount col)
     return res;
 }
 
+[[gnu::always_inline]]
+static inline uint32_t rotl(uint32_t x, int8_t r)
+{
+    return (x << r) | (x >> (32 - r));
+}
+
+[[gnu::always_inline]]
+static inline uint32_t fmix(uint32_t h)
+{
+    h ^= h >> 16;
+    h *= 0x85ebca6b;
+    h ^= h >> 13;
+    h *= 0xc2b2ae35;
+    h ^= h >> 16;
+
+    return h;
+}
+
+// murmur3 hash, based on https://github.com/PeterScott/murmur3
+size_t hash_data(const char* input, size_t len)
+{
+    const uint8_t* data = reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t*>(input);
+    uint32_t hash = 0x1235678;
+    constexpr uint32_t c1 = 0xcc9e2d51;
+    constexpr uint32_t c2 = 0x1b873593;
+
+    const int nblocks = len / 4;
+    const uint32_t* blocks = reinterpret_cast<const uint32_t*>(data + nblocks*4);
+
+    for (int i = -nblocks; i; ++i)
+    {
+        uint32_t key = blocks[i];
+        key *= c1;
+        key = rotl(key, 15);
+        key *= c2;
+
+        hash ^= key;
+        hash = rotl(hash, 13);
+        hash = hash * 5 + 0xe6546b64;
+    }
+
+    const uint8_t* tail = data + nblocks * 4;
+    uint32_t key = 0;
+    switch (len & 3)
+    {
+        case 3: key ^= tail[2] << 16;
+        case 2: key ^= tail[1] << 8;
+        case 1: key ^= tail[0];
+                key *= c1;
+                key = rotl(key,15);
+                key *= c2;
+                hash ^= key;
+    }
+
+    hash ^= len;
+    hash = fmix(hash);
+
+    return hash;
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/src/string.hh b/src/string.hh
index 8f3df1a3..573853fe 100644
--- a/src/string.hh
+++ b/src/string.hh
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ inline bool StringView::operator!=(StringView other) const
     return !this->operator==(other);
 }
 
+bool operator<(StringView lhs, StringView rhs);
+
 inline bool operator==(const char* lhs, StringView rhs)
 {
     return StringView{lhs} == rhs;
@@ -304,6 +306,8 @@ bool subsequence_match(StringView str, StringView subseq);
 
 String expand_tabs(StringView line, CharCount tabstop, CharCount col = 0);
 
+size_t hash_data(const char* data, size_t len);
+
 }
 
 namespace std
@@ -316,6 +320,15 @@ namespace std
             return hash<std::string>::operator()(str);
         }
     };
+
+    template<>
+    struct hash<Kakoune::StringView>
+    {
+        size_t operator()(Kakoune::StringView str) const
+        {
+            return Kakoune::hash_data(str.data(), (int)str.length());
+        }
+    };
 }
 
 #endif // string_hh_INCLUDED
diff --git a/src/unit_tests.cc b/src/unit_tests.cc
index 3795b8a5..3c9e5c17 100644
--- a/src/unit_tests.cc
+++ b/src/unit_tests.cc
@@ -82,17 +82,17 @@ void test_word_db()
     WordDB word_db(buffer);
     auto res = word_db.find_prefix("");
     std::sort(res.begin(), res.end());
-    kak_assert(res == std::vector<String>{ "allo" COMMA "kanaky" COMMA "mutch" COMMA "tchaa" COMMA "tchou" });
+    kak_assert(res == std::vector<InternedString>{ "allo" COMMA "kanaky" COMMA "mutch" COMMA "tchaa" COMMA "tchou" });
     kak_assert(word_db.get_word_occurences("tchou") == 3);
     kak_assert(word_db.get_word_occurences("allo") == 1);
     buffer.erase(buffer.iterator_at({1, 6}), buffer.iterator_at({4, 0}));
     res = word_db.find_prefix("");
     std::sort(res.begin(), res.end());
-    kak_assert(res == std::vector<String>{ "allo" COMMA "mutch" COMMA "tchou" });
+    kak_assert(res == std::vector<InternedString>{ "allo" COMMA "mutch" COMMA "tchou" });
     buffer.insert(buffer.iterator_at({1, 0}), "re");
     res = word_db.find_prefix("");
     std::sort(res.begin(), res.end());
-    kak_assert(res == std::vector<String>{ "allo" COMMA "mutch" COMMA "retchou" COMMA "tchou" });
+    kak_assert(res == std::vector<InternedString>{ "allo" COMMA "mutch" COMMA "retchou" COMMA "tchou" });
 }
 
 void test_utf8()
diff --git a/src/word_db.cc b/src/word_db.cc
index e3be4245..8749b451 100644
--- a/src/word_db.cc
+++ b/src/word_db.cc
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@
 namespace Kakoune
 {
 
-static std::vector<String> get_words(StringView content)
+static std::vector<InternedString> get_words(StringView content)
 {
-    std::vector<String> res;
+    std::vector<InternedString> res;
     using Iterator = utf8::iterator<const char*, utf8::InvalidPolicy::Pass>;
     const char* word_start = content.begin();
     bool in_word = false;
@@ -24,20 +24,20 @@ static std::vector<String> get_words(StringView content)
         }
         else if (in_word and not word)
         {
-            res.push_back({word_start, it.base()});
+            res.push_back(StringView{word_start, it.base()});
             in_word = false;
         }
     }
     return res;
 }
 
-static void add_words(WordDB::WordList& wl, const std::vector<String>& words)
+static void add_words(WordDB::WordList& wl, const std::vector<InternedString>& words)
 {
     for (auto& w : words)
         ++wl[w];
 }
 
-static void remove_words(WordDB::WordList& wl, const std::vector<String>& words)
+static void remove_words(WordDB::WordList& wl, const std::vector<InternedString>& words)
 {
     for (auto& w : words)
     {
@@ -104,11 +104,11 @@ void WordDB::update_db()
     m_line_to_words = std::move(new_lines);
 }
 
-std::vector<String> WordDB::find_prefix(const String& prefix)
+std::vector<InternedString> WordDB::find_prefix(StringView prefix)
 {
     update_db();
 
-    std::vector<String> res;
+    std::vector<InternedString> res;
     for (auto it = m_words.lower_bound(prefix); it != m_words.end(); ++it)
     {
         if (not prefix_match(it->first, prefix))
@@ -118,11 +118,11 @@ std::vector<String> WordDB::find_prefix(const String& prefix)
     return res;
 }
 
-std::vector<String> WordDB::find_subsequence(const String& subsequence)
+std::vector<InternedString> WordDB::find_subsequence(StringView subsequence)
 {
     update_db();
 
-    std::vector<String> res;
+    std::vector<InternedString> res;
     for (auto it = m_words.begin(); it != m_words.end(); ++it)
     {
         if (subsequence_match(it->first, subsequence))
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ std::vector<String> WordDB::find_subsequence(const String& subsequence)
     return res;
 }
 
-int WordDB::get_word_occurences(const String& word) const
+int WordDB::get_word_occurences(StringView word) const
 {
     auto it = m_words.find(word);
     if (it != m_words.end())
diff --git a/src/word_db.hh b/src/word_db.hh
index 043f9960..ee4e6ab5 100644
--- a/src/word_db.hh
+++ b/src/word_db.hh
@@ -2,27 +2,26 @@
 #define word_db_hh_INCLUDED
 
 #include "buffer.hh"
+#include "interned_string.hh"
 
 #include <map>
 
 namespace Kakoune
 {
 
-class String;
-
 // maintain a database of words available in a buffer
 class WordDB
 {
 public:
     WordDB(const Buffer& buffer);
 
-    std::vector<String> find_prefix(const String& prefix);
-    std::vector<String> find_subsequence(const String& subsequence);
-    int get_word_occurences(const String& word) const;
+    std::vector<InternedString> find_prefix(StringView prefix);
+    std::vector<InternedString> find_subsequence(StringView subsequence);
+    int get_word_occurences(StringView word) const;
 
-    using WordList = std::map<String, int>;
+    using WordList = std::map<InternedString, int>;
 private:
-    using LineToWords = std::vector<std::vector<String>>;
+    using LineToWords = std::vector<std::vector<InternedString>>;
 
     void update_db();