diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 4a6d4f0e8..b4fd7b72d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -240,6 +240,12 @@ version = "0.11.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "ab5ef0d4909ef3724cc8cce6ccc8572c5c817592e9285f5464f8e86f8bd3726e"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "hypher"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d29349e08e99b98d0e16a0ca738d181d5c73431a9a46b78918318c4bc9b10106"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "iai"
 version = "0.1.1"
@@ -806,6 +812,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "either",
  "flate2",
  "fxhash",
+ "hypher",
  "iai",
  "image",
  "kurbo",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3971b9714..ed265b1a7 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 typed-arena = "2"
 
 # Text and font handling
+hypher = "0.1"
 kurbo = "0.8"
 ttf-parser = "0.12"
 rustybuzz = "0.4"
diff --git a/src/library/text/mod.rs b/src/library/text/mod.rs
index 0df59007b..1ce3518ce 100644
--- a/src/library/text/mod.rs
+++ b/src/library/text/mod.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//! Text shaping and paragraph layout.
+
 mod deco;
 mod link;
 mod par;
diff --git a/src/library/text/par.rs b/src/library/text/par.rs
index 812231c2e..70cac1be5 100644
--- a/src/library/text/par.rs
+++ b/src/library/text/par.rs
@@ -27,12 +27,17 @@ pub enum ParChild {
 
 #[class]
 impl ParNode {
+    /// An ISO 639-1 language code.
+    pub const LANG: Option<EcoString> = None;
     /// The direction for text and inline objects.
     pub const DIR: Dir = Dir::LTR;
     /// How to align text and inline objects in their line.
     pub const ALIGN: Align = Align::Left;
     /// Whether to justify text in its line.
     pub const JUSTIFY: bool = false;
+    /// Whether to hyphenate text to improve line breaking. When `auto`, words
+    /// will will be hyphenated if and only if justification is enabled.
+    pub const HYPHENATE: Smart<bool> = Smart::Auto;
     /// The spacing between lines (dependent on scaled font size).
     pub const LEADING: Linear = Relative::new(0.65).into();
     /// The extra spacing between paragraphs (dependent on scaled font size).
@@ -49,13 +54,14 @@ impl ParNode {
     }
 
     fn set(args: &mut Args, styles: &mut StyleMap) -> TypResult<()> {
+        let lang = args.named::<Option<EcoString>>("lang")?;
+
         let mut dir =
-            args.named("lang")?
-                .map(|iso: EcoString| match iso.to_lowercase().as_str() {
-                    "ar" | "he" | "fa" | "ur" | "ps" | "yi" => Dir::RTL,
-                    "en" | "fr" | "de" => Dir::LTR,
-                    _ => Dir::LTR,
-                });
+            lang.clone().flatten().map(|iso| match iso.to_lowercase().as_str() {
+                "ar" | "dv" | "fa" | "he" | "ks" | "pa" | "ps" | "sd" | "ug" | "ur"
+                | "yi" => Dir::RTL,
+                _ => Dir::LTR,
+            });
 
         if let Some(Spanned { v, span }) = args.named::<Spanned<Dir>>("dir")? {
             if v.axis() != SpecAxis::Horizontal {
@@ -74,9 +80,11 @@ impl ParNode {
                 dir.map(|dir| dir.start().into())
             };
 
+        styles.set_opt(Self::LANG, lang);
         styles.set_opt(Self::DIR, dir);
         styles.set_opt(Self::ALIGN, align);
         styles.set_opt(Self::JUSTIFY, args.named("justify")?);
+        styles.set_opt(Self::HYPHENATE, args.named("hyphenate")?);
         styles.set_opt(Self::LEADING, args.named("leading")?);
         styles.set_opt(Self::SPACING, args.named("spacing")?);
         styles.set_opt(Self::INDENT, args.named("indent")?);
@@ -137,7 +145,7 @@ impl Layout for ParNode {
         let par = ParLayout::new(ctx, self, bidi, regions, &styles)?;
 
         // Break the paragraph into lines.
-        let lines = break_into_lines(&mut ctx.fonts, &par, regions.first.x);
+        let lines = break_into_lines(&mut ctx.fonts, &par, regions.first.x, styles);
 
         // Stack the lines into one frame per region.
         Ok(stack_lines(&ctx.fonts, lines, regions, styles))
@@ -278,6 +286,7 @@ impl<'a> ParLayout<'a> {
         fonts: &mut FontStore,
         mut range: Range,
         mandatory: bool,
+        hyphen: bool,
     ) -> LineLayout<'a> {
         // Find the items which bound the text range.
         let last_idx = self.find(range.end.saturating_sub(1)).unwrap();
@@ -308,7 +317,10 @@ impl<'a> ParLayout<'a> {
                 // empty string.
                 if !shifted.is_empty() || rest.is_empty() {
                     // Reshape that part.
-                    let reshaped = shaped.reshape(fonts, shifted);
+                    let mut reshaped = shaped.reshape(fonts, shifted);
+                    if hyphen {
+                        reshaped.push_hyphen(fonts);
+                    }
                     last = Some(ParItem::Text(reshaped));
                 }
 
@@ -524,6 +536,7 @@ fn break_into_lines<'a>(
     fonts: &mut FontStore,
     par: &'a ParLayout<'a>,
     width: Length,
+    styles: StyleChain,
 ) -> Vec<LineLayout<'a>> {
     // The already determined lines and the current line attempt.
     let mut lines = vec![];
@@ -531,9 +544,9 @@ fn break_into_lines<'a>(
     let mut last = None;
 
     // Find suitable line breaks.
-    for (end, mandatory) in LineBreakIterator::new(&par.bidi.text) {
+    for (end, mandatory, hyphen) in breakpoints(&par.bidi.text, styles) {
         // Compute the line and its size.
-        let mut line = par.line(fonts, start .. end, mandatory);
+        let mut line = par.line(fonts, start .. end, mandatory, hyphen);
 
         // If the line doesn't fit anymore, we push the last fitting attempt
         // into the stack and rebuild the line from its end. The resulting
@@ -542,7 +555,7 @@ fn break_into_lines<'a>(
             if let Some((last_line, last_end)) = last.take() {
                 lines.push(last_line);
                 start = last_end;
-                line = par.line(fonts, start .. end, mandatory);
+                line = par.line(fonts, start .. end, mandatory, hyphen);
             }
         }
 
@@ -565,6 +578,47 @@ fn break_into_lines<'a>(
     lines
 }
 
+/// Determine all possible points in the text where lines can broken.
+fn breakpoints<'a>(
+    text: &'a str,
+    styles: StyleChain,
+) -> impl Iterator<Item = (usize, bool, bool)> + 'a {
+    let mut lang = None;
+    if styles.get(ParNode::HYPHENATE).unwrap_or(styles.get(ParNode::JUSTIFY)) {
+        lang = styles
+            .get_ref(ParNode::LANG)
+            .as_ref()
+            .and_then(|iso| iso.as_bytes().try_into().ok())
+            .and_then(hypher::Lang::from_iso);
+    }
+
+    let breaks = LineBreakIterator::new(text);
+    let mut last = 0;
+
+    if let Some(lang) = lang {
+        Either::Left(breaks.flat_map(move |(end, mandatory)| {
+            let word = &text[last .. end];
+            let trimmed = word.trim_end_matches(|c: char| !c.is_alphabetic());
+            let suffix = last + trimmed.len();
+            let mut start = std::mem::replace(&mut last, end);
+            if trimmed.is_empty() {
+                Either::Left([(end, mandatory, false)].into_iter())
+            } else {
+                Either::Right(hypher::hyphenate(trimmed, lang).map(move |syllable| {
+                    start += syllable.len();
+                    if start == suffix {
+                        start = end;
+                    }
+                    let hyphen = start < end;
+                    (start, mandatory && !hyphen, hyphen)
+                }))
+            }
+        }))
+    } else {
+        Either::Right(breaks.map(|(e, m)| (e, m, false)))
+    }
+}
+
 /// Combine the lines into one frame per region.
 fn stack_lines(
     fonts: &FontStore,
diff --git a/src/library/text/shaping.rs b/src/library/text/shaping.rs
index 26c8daf35..b467abf70 100644
--- a/src/library/text/shaping.rs
+++ b/src/library/text/shaping.rs
@@ -135,6 +135,34 @@ impl<'a> ShapedText<'a> {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Push a hyphen to end of the text.
+    pub fn push_hyphen(&mut self, fonts: &mut FontStore) {
+        // When there are no glyphs, we just use the vertical metrics of the
+        // first available font.
+        let size = self.styles.get(TextNode::SIZE).abs;
+        let variant = variant(self.styles);
+        families(self.styles).find_map(|family| {
+            // Allow hyphens to overhang a bit.
+            const INSET: f64 = 0.4;
+            let face_id = fonts.select(family, variant)?;
+            let face = fonts.get(face_id);
+            let ttf = face.ttf();
+            let glyph_id = ttf.glyph_index('-')?;
+            let x_advance = face.to_em(ttf.glyph_hor_advance(glyph_id)?);
+            self.size.x += INSET * x_advance.resolve(size);
+            self.glyphs.to_mut().push(ShapedGlyph {
+                face_id,
+                glyph_id: glyph_id.0,
+                x_advance,
+                x_offset: Em::zero(),
+                text_index: self.text.len(),
+                safe_to_break: true,
+                is_space: false,
+            });
+            Some(())
+        });
+    }
+
     /// Find the subslice of glyphs that represent the given text range if both
     /// sides are safe to break.
     fn slice_safe_to_break(&self, text_range: Range<usize>) -> Option<&[ShapedGlyph]> {
@@ -531,8 +559,9 @@ fn measure(
     if glyphs.is_empty() {
         // When there are no glyphs, we just use the vertical metrics of the
         // first available font.
+        let variant = variant(styles);
         for family in families(styles) {
-            if let Some(face_id) = fonts.select(family, variant(styles)) {
+            if let Some(face_id) = fonts.select(family, variant) {
                 expand(fonts.get(face_id));
                 break;
             }
diff --git a/tests/ref/text/hyphenate.png b/tests/ref/text/hyphenate.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..050cab12b
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/ref/text/hyphenate.png differ
diff --git a/tests/ref/text/justify.png b/tests/ref/text/justify.png
index 26787af9f..38141bdc8 100644
Binary files a/tests/ref/text/justify.png and b/tests/ref/text/justify.png differ
diff --git a/tests/typ/text/hyphenate.typ b/tests/typ/text/hyphenate.typ
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6f44477b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/typ/text/hyphenate.typ
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+// Test hyphenation.
+
+---
+#set page(width: 70pt)
+#set par(lang: "en", hyphenate: true)
+Warm welcomes to Typst.
+
+#h(6pt) networks, the rest.
+
+---
+#set page(width: 60pt)
+#set par(lang: "el", hyphenate: true)
+διαμερίσματα. \
+λατρευτός
diff --git a/tests/typ/text/justify.typ b/tests/typ/text/justify.typ
index 7b8a28299..eb8feb61b 100644
--- a/tests/typ/text/justify.typ
+++ b/tests/typ/text/justify.typ
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
 
 ---
-#set par(indent: 14pt, spacing: 0pt, leading: 5pt, justify: true)
+#set page(width: 180pt)
+#set par(
+  lang: "en",
+  justify: true,
+  indent: 14pt,
+  spacing: 0pt,
+  leading: 5pt,
+)
 
 This text is justified, meaning that spaces are stretched so that the text
-forms as "block" with flush edges at both sides.
+forms a "block" with flush edges at both sides.
 
 First line indents and hyphenation play nicely with justified text.