diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 1e4300a0a..c2f2735d3 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1319,7 +1319,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "hashbrown 0.14.5",
  "helix-loader",
  "helix-stdx",
- "icu_properties",
  "imara-diff",
  "indoc",
  "log",
@@ -1337,6 +1336,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "textwrap",
  "toml",
  "tree-sitter",
+ "unicode-general-category",
  "unicode-segmentation",
  "unicode-width",
 ]
@@ -2664,6 +2664,12 @@ version = "2.0.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "98e90c70c9f0d4d1ee6d0a7d04aa06cb9bbd53d8cfbdd62a0269a7c2eb640552"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-general-category"
+version = "0.6.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2281c8c1d221438e373249e065ca4989c4c36952c211ff21a0ee91c44a3869e7"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-ident"
 version = "1.0.8"
diff --git a/helix-core/Cargo.toml b/helix-core/Cargo.toml
index 9f9366979..53d4af359 100644
--- a/helix-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/helix-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ smallvec = "1.13"
 smartstring = "1.0.1"
 unicode-segmentation = "1.11"
 unicode-width = "0.1"
-icu_properties = "1.5"
+unicode-general-category = "0.6"
 slotmap.workspace = true
 tree-sitter.workspace = true
 once_cell = "1.19"
diff --git a/helix-core/src/chars.rs b/helix-core/src/chars.rs
index 220500694..817bbb86b 100644
--- a/helix-core/src/chars.rs
+++ b/helix-core/src/chars.rs
@@ -63,10 +63,10 @@ pub fn char_is_whitespace(ch: char) -> bool {
 
 #[inline]
 pub fn char_is_punctuation(ch: char) -> bool {
-    use icu_properties::{maps::general_category, GeneralCategory};
+    use unicode_general_category::{get_general_category, GeneralCategory};
 
     matches!(
-        general_category().get(ch),
+        get_general_category(ch),
         GeneralCategory::OtherPunctuation
             | GeneralCategory::OpenPunctuation
             | GeneralCategory::ClosePunctuation
diff --git a/helix-core/src/lib.rs b/helix-core/src/lib.rs
index 6b9d359c1..1abd90d10 100644
--- a/helix-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/helix-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ mod transaction;
 pub mod wrap;
 
 pub mod unicode {
-    pub use icu_properties as properties;
+    pub use unicode_general_category as category;
     pub use unicode_segmentation as segmentation;
     pub use unicode_width as width;
 }