--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2047,9 +2047,10 @@ endif
 # FIXME: glib-gettext.m4 has much more checks to detect broken/uncompatible
 # implementations. This could be extended if issues are found in some platforms.
 libintl_deps = []
-if cc.has_function('ngettext', args : osx_ldflags)
+gettext_opt = get_option('gettext')
+if ['auto', 'libc'].contains(gettext_opt) and cc.has_function('ngettext', args : osx_ldflags)
   have_bind_textdomain_codeset = cc.has_function('bind_textdomain_codeset')
-else
+elif ['auto', 'external'].contains(gettext_opt)
   # First just find the bare library.
   libintl = cc.find_library('intl', required : false)
   # The bare library probably won't link without help if it's static.
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ option('iconv',
        value : 'auto',
        description : 'iconv implementation to use (\'libc\' = \'Part of the C library\'; \'external\' = \'External libiconv\'; \'auto\' = \'Auto-detect which iconv is available\')')
 
+option('gettext',
+       type : 'combo',
+       choices : ['auto', 'libc', 'external'],
+       value : 'auto',
+       description : 'gettext implementation to use (\'libc\' = \'Part of the C library\'; \'external\' = \'External libintl\'; \'auto\' = \'Auto-detect which gettext is available\')')
+
 option('charsetalias_dir',
        type : 'string',
        value : '',