diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_exceptions.h b/Include/internal/pycore_exceptions.h
index 26456d1966bbb0..b1964117c8c7e5 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_exceptions.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_exceptions.h
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ extern void _PyExc_Fini(PyInterpreterState *);
 struct _Py_exc_state {
     // The dict mapping from errno codes to OSError subclasses
     PyObject *errnomap;
+    // Tuple of the locale's identity and its _Py_strerror() messages, or None
+    // if not built yet, see strerror_ensure_cache()
+    PyObject *strerror_cache;
+    PyMutex strerror_lock;
     PyBaseExceptionObject *memerrors_freelist;
     int memerrors_numfree;
 #ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_exception_hierarchy.py b/Lib/test/test_exception_hierarchy.py
index 3318fa8e7746f7..39c0210960db6f 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_exception_hierarchy.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_exception_hierarchy.py
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 import builtins
+import locale
 import os
 import select
 import socket
 import unittest
 import errno
 from errno import EEXIST
+from test.support import cpython_only
 
 
 class SubOSError(OSError):
@@ -136,6 +138,27 @@ def test_posix_error(self):
         if os.name == "nt":
             self.assertEqual(e.winerror, None)
 
+    @cpython_only
+    @unittest.skipIf(os.name == "nt", "POSIX-specific test")
+    def test_strerror_cached(self):
+        def strerror():
+            with self.assertRaises(FileNotFoundError) as cm:
+                open("some_hopefully_non_existing_file")
+            return cm.exception.strerror
+        message = strerror()
+        self.assertIs(strerror(), message)
+        self.assertIs(os.strerror(errno.ENOENT), message)
+        if hasattr(locale, "LC_MESSAGES"):
+            old = locale.setlocale(locale.LC_MESSAGES)
+            self.addCleanup(locale.setlocale, locale.LC_MESSAGES, old)
+            locale.setlocale(locale.LC_MESSAGES, "C")
+            message = strerror()
+            try:
+                locale.setlocale(locale.LC_MESSAGES, "C.UTF-8")
+                self.assertIsNot(strerror(), message)
+            except locale.Error:
+                pass
+
     @unittest.skipUnless(os.name == "nt", "Windows-specific test")
     def test_errno_translation(self):
         # ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS (183) -> EEXIST
diff --git a/Objects/exceptions.c b/Objects/exceptions.c
index e2f757c5ee9c0b..9568be7aed6cff 100644
--- a/Objects/exceptions.c
+++ b/Objects/exceptions.c
@@ -4593,6 +4593,7 @@ PyStatus
 _PyExc_InitState(PyInterpreterState *interp)
 {
     struct _Py_exc_state *state = &interp->exc_state;
+    state->strerror_cache = Py_None;
 
 #define ADD_ERRNO(TYPE, CODE) \
     do { \
@@ -4699,6 +4700,8 @@ _PyExc_Fini(PyInterpreterState *interp)
     struct _Py_exc_state *state = &interp->exc_state;
     free_preallocated_memerrors(state);
     Py_CLEAR(state->errnomap);
+    // Not NULL: _Py_strerror() can still run after this.
+    Py_XSETREF(state->strerror_cache, Py_None);
 
     _PyExc_FiniTypes(interp);
 }
diff --git a/Python/fileutils.c b/Python/fileutils.c
index 3ea0f59f69ad1e..f43d0160cc8d88 100644
--- a/Python/fileutils.c
+++ b/Python/fileutils.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "Python.h"
 #include "pycore_fileutils.h"     // fileutils definitions
+#include "pycore_long.h"          // _PyLong_FromUnsignedChar()
 #include "pycore_runtime.h"       // _PyRuntime
 #include "pycore_pystate.h"       // _Py_AssertHoldsTstate()
 #include "pycore_unicodeobject.h" // _Py_MAX_UNICODE
@@ -3304,13 +3305,8 @@ _Py_IsValidFD(int fd)
 }
 
 
-// Call strerror_r(code) if available, or use strerror() otherwise. Decode the
-// result from the locale encoding using surrogateescape error handler.
-//
-// On success, return a Unicode string. On error, set an exception and return
-// NULL.
-PyObject*
-_Py_strerror(int code)
+static PyObject *
+decode_strerror(int code)
 /*[clinic end generated code: output=baebf09fa02a78f2 input=75a8673d97915a91]*/
 {
     const char *errors = "surrogateescape";
@@ -3396,3 +3392,88 @@ _Py_strerror(int code)
     return PyUnicode_DecodeLocale(message, errors);
 #endif
 }
+
+
+// Return a strong reference to the tuple (codeset, LC_MESSAGES name,
+// {code: message}) of the current locale, replacing it if the locale changed.
+static PyObject *
+strerror_ensure_cache(struct _Py_exc_state *state)
+{
+    // C code can change the locale without locale.setlocale(). Messages depend
+    // on LC_MESSAGES (language) and the LC_CTYPE codeset (decoding). Windows
+    // has neither, and its messages are ASCII.
+#if defined(HAVE_LANGINFO_H) && defined(CODESET)
+    const char *codeset = nl_langinfo(CODESET);
+    const char *messages = setlocale(LC_MESSAGES, NULL);
+#else
+    const char *codeset = "";
+    const char *messages = "";
+#endif
+    // Py_SETREF() isn't atomic.
+    PyObject *cache;
+    Py_BEGIN_CRITICAL_SECTION_MUTEX(&state->strerror_lock);
+    cache = state->strerror_cache;
+    Py_IncRef(cache);
+    Py_END_CRITICAL_SECTION();
+    if (cache != Py_None
+        && PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString(
+               PyTuple_GET_ITEM(cache, 0), codeset) == 0
+        && PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString(
+               PyTuple_GET_ITEM(cache, 1), messages) == 0)
+    {
+        return cache;
+    }
+    Py_DECREF(cache);
+    cache = PyTuple_New(3);
+    if (cache == NULL) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    // Latin-1, which is how the comparison above reads a non-ASCII name.
+    PyTuple_SET_ITEM(cache, 0,
+                     PyUnicode_DecodeLatin1(codeset, strlen(codeset), NULL));
+    PyTuple_SET_ITEM(cache, 1,
+                     PyUnicode_DecodeLatin1(messages, strlen(messages), NULL));
+    PyTuple_SET_ITEM(cache, 2, PyDict_New());
+    if (PyTuple_GET_ITEM(cache, 0) == NULL
+        || PyTuple_GET_ITEM(cache, 1) == NULL
+        || PyTuple_GET_ITEM(cache, 2) == NULL)
+    {
+        Py_DECREF(cache);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    Py_BEGIN_CRITICAL_SECTION_MUTEX(&state->strerror_lock);
+    Py_SETREF(state->strerror_cache, Py_NewRef(cache));
+    Py_END_CRITICAL_SECTION();
+    return cache;
+}
+
+// Call strerror_r(code) if available, or use strerror() otherwise. Decode the
+// result from the locale encoding using surrogateescape error handler.
+// Messages of codes 0-255 are cached per locale: decoding is a large part of
+// the cost of raising OSError.
+//
+// On success, return a Unicode string. On error, set an exception and return
+// NULL.
+PyObject*
+_Py_strerror(int code)
+{
+    if (code < 0 || code >= 256) {
+        return decode_strerror(code);
+    }
+    struct _Py_exc_state *state = &_PyInterpreterState_GET()->exc_state;
+    PyObject *cache = strerror_ensure_cache(state);
+    if (cache == NULL) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    PyObject *dict = PyTuple_GET_ITEM(cache, 2);
+    PyObject *key = _PyLong_FromUnsignedChar((unsigned char)code);
+    PyObject *message;
+    if (PyDict_GetItemRef(dict, key, &message) == 0) {
+        message = decode_strerror(code);
+        if (message != NULL && PyDict_SetItem(dict, key, message) < 0) {
+            Py_CLEAR(message);
+        }
+    }
+    Py_DECREF(cache);
+    return message;
+}