diff --git a/drw.c b/drw.c
index a58a2b4..344de61 100644
--- a/drw.c
+++ b/drw.c
@@ -9,54 +9,40 @@
 #include "util.h"
 
 #define UTF_INVALID 0xFFFD
-#define UTF_SIZ     4
 
-static const unsigned char utfbyte[UTF_SIZ + 1] = {0x80,    0, 0xC0, 0xE0, 0xF0};
-static const unsigned char utfmask[UTF_SIZ + 1] = {0xC0, 0x80, 0xE0, 0xF0, 0xF8};
-static const long utfmin[UTF_SIZ + 1] = {       0,    0,  0x80,  0x800,  0x10000};
-static const long utfmax[UTF_SIZ + 1] = {0x10FFFF, 0x7F, 0x7FF, 0xFFFF, 0x10FFFF};
-
-static long
-utf8decodebyte(const char c, size_t *i)
+static int
+utf8decode(const char *s_in, long *u, int *err)
 {
-	for (*i = 0; *i < (UTF_SIZ + 1); ++(*i))
-		if (((unsigned char)c & utfmask[*i]) == utfbyte[*i])
-			return (unsigned char)c & ~utfmask[*i];
-	return 0;
-}
-
-static size_t
-utf8validate(long *u, size_t i)
-{
-	if (!BETWEEN(*u, utfmin[i], utfmax[i]) || BETWEEN(*u, 0xD800, 0xDFFF))
-		*u = UTF_INVALID;
-	for (i = 1; *u > utfmax[i]; ++i)
-		;
-	return i;
-}
-
-static size_t
-utf8decode(const char *c, long *u, size_t clen)
-{
-	size_t i, j, len, type;
-	long udecoded;
+	static const unsigned char lens[] = {
+		/* 0XXXX */ 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
+		/* 10XXX */ 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,  /* invalid */
+		/* 110XX */ 2, 2, 2, 2,
+		/* 1110X */ 3, 3,
+		/* 11110 */ 4,
+		/* 11111 */ 0,  /* invalid */
+	};
+	static const unsigned char leading_mask[] = { 0x7F, 0x1F, 0x0F, 0x07 };
+	static const unsigned int overlong[] = { 0x0, 0x80, 0x0800, 0x10000 };
 
+	const unsigned char *s = (const unsigned char *)s_in;
+	int len = lens[*s >> 3];
 	*u = UTF_INVALID;
-	if (!clen)
-		return 0;
-	udecoded = utf8decodebyte(c[0], &len);
-	if (!BETWEEN(len, 1, UTF_SIZ))
+	*err = 1;
+	if (len == 0)
 		return 1;
-	for (i = 1, j = 1; i < clen && j < len; ++i, ++j) {
-		udecoded = (udecoded << 6) | utf8decodebyte(c[i], &type);
-		if (type)
-			return j;
-	}
-	if (j < len)
-		return 0;
-	*u = udecoded;
-	utf8validate(u, len);
 
+	long cp = s[0] & leading_mask[len - 1];
+	for (int i = 1; i < len; ++i) {
+		if (s[i] == '\0' || (s[i] & 0xC0) != 0x80)
+			return i;
+		cp = (cp << 6) | (s[i] & 0x3F);
+	}
+	/* out of range, surrogate, overlong encoding */
+	if (cp > 0x10FFFF || (cp >> 11) == 0x1B || cp < overlong[len - 1])
+		return len;
+
+	*err = 0;
+	*u = cp;
 	return len;
 }
 
@@ -238,11 +224,11 @@ drw_rect(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, int filled, int
 int
 drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lpad, const char *text, int invert)
 {
-	int i, ty, ellipsis_x = 0;
-	unsigned int tmpw, ew, ellipsis_w = 0, ellipsis_len;
+	int ty, ellipsis_x = 0;
+	unsigned int tmpw, ew, ellipsis_w = 0, ellipsis_len, hash, h0, h1;
 	XftDraw *d = NULL;
 	Fnt *usedfont, *curfont, *nextfont;
-	int utf8strlen, utf8charlen, render = x || y || w || h;
+	int utf8strlen, utf8charlen, utf8err, render = x || y || w || h;
 	long utf8codepoint = 0;
 	const char *utf8str;
 	FcCharSet *fccharset;
@@ -251,9 +237,8 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 	XftResult result;
 	int charexists = 0, overflow = 0;
 	/* keep track of a couple codepoints for which we have no match. */
-	enum { nomatches_len = 64 };
-	static struct { long codepoint[nomatches_len]; unsigned int idx; } nomatches;
-	static unsigned int ellipsis_width = 0;
+	static unsigned int nomatches[128], ellipsis_width, invalid_width;
+	static const char invalid[] = "�";
 
 	if (!drw || (render && (!drw->scheme || !w)) || !text || !drw->fonts)
 		return 0;
@@ -273,12 +258,14 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 	usedfont = drw->fonts;
 	if (!ellipsis_width && render)
 		ellipsis_width = drw_fontset_getwidth(drw, "...");
+	if (!invalid_width && render)
+		invalid_width = drw_fontset_getwidth(drw, invalid);
 	while (1) {
-		ew = ellipsis_len = utf8strlen = 0;
+		ew = ellipsis_len = utf8err = utf8charlen = utf8strlen = 0;
 		utf8str = text;
 		nextfont = NULL;
 		while (*text) {
-			utf8charlen = utf8decode(text, &utf8codepoint, UTF_SIZ);
+			utf8charlen = utf8decode(text, &utf8codepoint, &utf8err);
 			for (curfont = drw->fonts; curfont; curfont = curfont->next) {
 				charexists = charexists || XftCharExists(drw->dpy, curfont->xfont, utf8codepoint);
 				if (charexists) {
@@ -300,9 +287,9 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 						else
 							utf8strlen = ellipsis_len;
 					} else if (curfont == usedfont) {
-						utf8strlen += utf8charlen;
 						text += utf8charlen;
-						ew += tmpw;
+						utf8strlen += utf8err ? 0 : utf8charlen;
+						ew += utf8err ? 0 : tmpw;
 					} else {
 						nextfont = curfont;
 					}
@@ -310,7 +297,7 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 				}
 			}
 
-			if (overflow || !charexists || nextfont)
+			if (overflow || !charexists || nextfont || utf8err)
 				break;
 			else
 				charexists = 0;
@@ -325,6 +312,12 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 			x += ew;
 			w -= ew;
 		}
+		if (utf8err && (!render || invalid_width < w)) {
+			if (render)
+				drw_text(drw, x, y, w, h, 0, invalid, invert);
+			x += invalid_width;
+			w -= invalid_width;
+		}
 		if (render && overflow)
 			drw_text(drw, ellipsis_x, y, ellipsis_w, h, 0, "...", invert);
 
@@ -338,11 +331,14 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 			 * character must be drawn. */
 			charexists = 1;
 
-			for (i = 0; i < nomatches_len; ++i) {
-				/* avoid calling XftFontMatch if we know we won't find a match */
-				if (utf8codepoint == nomatches.codepoint[i])
-					goto no_match;
-			}
+			hash = (unsigned int)utf8codepoint;
+			hash = ((hash >> 16) ^ hash) * 0x21F0AAAD;
+			hash = ((hash >> 15) ^ hash) * 0xD35A2D97;
+			h0 = ((hash >> 15) ^ hash) % LENGTH(nomatches);
+			h1 = (hash >> 17) % LENGTH(nomatches);
+			/* avoid expensive XftFontMatch call when we know we won't find a match */
+			if (nomatches[h0] == utf8codepoint || nomatches[h1] == utf8codepoint)
+				goto no_match;
 
 			fccharset = FcCharSetCreate();
 			FcCharSetAddChar(fccharset, utf8codepoint);
@@ -371,7 +367,7 @@ drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lp
 					curfont->next = usedfont;
 				} else {
 					xfont_free(usedfont);
-					nomatches.codepoint[++nomatches.idx % nomatches_len] = utf8codepoint;
+					nomatches[nomatches[h0] ? h1 : h0] = utf8codepoint;
 no_match:
 					usedfont = drw->fonts;
 				}
diff --git a/dwm.c b/dwm.c
index 67c6b2b..1443802 100644
--- a/dwm.c
+++ b/dwm.c
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@
 #define INTERSECT(x,y,w,h,m)    (MAX(0, MIN((x)+(w),(m)->wx+(m)->ww) - MAX((x),(m)->wx)) \
                                * MAX(0, MIN((y)+(h),(m)->wy+(m)->wh) - MAX((y),(m)->wy)))
 #define ISVISIBLE(C)            ((C->tags & C->mon->tagset[C->mon->seltags]))
-#define LENGTH(X)               (sizeof X / sizeof X[0])
 #define MOUSEMASK               (BUTTONMASK|PointerMotionMask)
 #define WIDTH(X)                ((X)->w + 2 * (X)->bw)
 #define HEIGHT(X)               ((X)->h + 2 * (X)->bw)
diff --git a/util.h b/util.h
index f633b51..c0a50d4 100644
--- a/util.h
+++ b/util.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #define MAX(A, B)               ((A) > (B) ? (A) : (B))
 #define MIN(A, B)               ((A) < (B) ? (A) : (B))
 #define BETWEEN(X, A, B)        ((A) <= (X) && (X) <= (B))
+#define LENGTH(X)               (sizeof (X) / sizeof (X)[0])
 
 void die(const char *fmt, ...);
 void *ecalloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size);