diff --git a/spec/std/string_spec.cr b/spec/std/string_spec.cr
index 90b6946b56c3..459b83a6d97f 100644
--- a/spec/std/string_spec.cr
+++ b/spec/std/string_spec.cr
@@ -870,6 +870,13 @@ describe "String" do
     reversed.should eq("はちいんこ")
   end
 
+  it "reverses taking grapheme clusters into account" do
+    reversed = "noël".reverse
+    reversed.bytesize.should eq("noël".bytesize)
+    reversed.size.should eq("noël".size)
+    reversed.should eq("lëon")
+  end
+
   describe "sub" do
     it "subs char with char" do
       replaced = "foobar".sub('o', 'e')
diff --git a/src/string.cr b/src/string.cr
index 228201777335..875d06fc7e6c 100644
--- a/src/string.cr
+++ b/src/string.cr
@@ -2748,18 +2748,25 @@ class String
   # "racecar".reverse   # => "racecar"
   # ```
   def reverse
-    String.new(bytesize) do |buffer|
-      buffer += bytesize
-      reader = Char::Reader.new(self)
-      reader.each do |char|
-        buffer -= reader.current_char_width
-        i = 0
-        char.each_byte do |byte|
-          buffer[i] = byte
-          i += 1
+    if ascii_only?
+      String.new(bytesize) do |buffer|
+        bytesize.times do |i|
+          buffer[i] = self.to_unsafe[bytesize - i - 1]
+        end
+        {@bytesize, @length}
+      end
+    else
+      # Iterate grpahemes to reverse the string,
+      # so combining characters are placed correctly
+      String.new(bytesize) do |buffer|
+        buffer += bytesize
+        scan(/\X/) do |match|
+          grapheme = match[0]
+          buffer -= grapheme.bytesize
+          buffer.copy_from(grapheme.to_unsafe, grapheme.bytesize)
         end
+        {@bytesize, @length}
       end
-      {@bytesize, @length}
     end
   end