diff --git a/gcc/dwarf2out.cc b/gcc/dwarf2out.cc
index e81044b8c482e87a5536206fd120edc15c754836..ed06707a7b474a194ea7e02063be1083ac415643 100644
--- a/gcc/dwarf2out.cc
+++ b/gcc/dwarf2out.cc
@@ -5600,6 +5600,17 @@ is_fortran (const_tree decl)
   return is_fortran ();
 }
 
+/* Return TRUE if the language is Rust.
+   Note, returns FALSE for dwarf_version < 5 && dwarf_strict. */
+
+static inline bool
+is_rust ()
+{
+  unsigned int lang = get_AT_unsigned (comp_unit_die (), DW_AT_language);
+
+  return lang == DW_LANG_Rust;
+}
+
 /* Return TRUE if the language is Ada.  */
 
 static inline bool
@@ -13232,7 +13243,11 @@ base_type_die (tree type, bool reverse)
 	}
       if (TYPE_STRING_FLAG (type))
 	{
-	  if (TYPE_UNSIGNED (type))
+	  if ((dwarf_version >= 4 || !dwarf_strict)
+	      && is_rust ()
+	      && int_size_in_bytes (type) == 4)
+	    encoding = DW_ATE_UTF;
+	  else if (TYPE_UNSIGNED (type))
 	    encoding = DW_ATE_unsigned_char;
 	  else
 	    encoding = DW_ATE_signed_char;
@@ -25231,6 +25246,8 @@ gen_compile_unit_die (const char *filename)
 	{
 	  if (strcmp (language_string, "GNU Go") == 0)
 	    language = DW_LANG_Go;
+	  else if (strcmp (language_string, "GNU Rust") == 0)
+	    language = DW_LANG_Rust;
 	}
     }
   /* Use a degraded Fortran setting in strict DWARF2 so is_fortran works.  */