diff --git a/spacy/lexeme.pxd b/spacy/lexeme.pxd
index 50417e65a..17ea473f9 100644
--- a/spacy/lexeme.pxd
+++ b/spacy/lexeme.pxd
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ cdef struct Orthography:
     StringHash shape
     StringHash norm
 
+    size_t length
     Py_UNICODE first
     Bits8 flags
 
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ cdef enum StringAttr:
     NORM
     SHAPE
     LAST3
+    LENGTH
 
 
 cpdef StringHash attr_of(size_t lex_id, StringAttr attr) except 0
@@ -54,3 +56,4 @@ cpdef StringHash lex_of(size_t lex_id) except 0
 cpdef StringHash norm_of(size_t lex_id) except 0
 cpdef StringHash shape_of(size_t lex_id) except 0
 cpdef StringHash last3_of(size_t lex_id) except 0
+cpdef StringHash length_of(size_t lex_id)
diff --git a/spacy/lexeme.pyx b/spacy/lexeme.pyx
index e769a6bee..430033db0 100644
--- a/spacy/lexeme.pyx
+++ b/spacy/lexeme.pyx
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ cpdef StringHash attr_of(size_t lex_id, StringAttr attr) except 0:
         return shape_of(lex_id)
     elif attr == LAST3:
         return last3_of(lex_id)
+    elif attr == LENGTH:
+        return length_of(lex_id)
     else:
         raise StandardError
 
@@ -118,9 +120,20 @@ cpdef Py_UNICODE first_of(size_t lex_id):
     >>> unhash(first_of(lex_id))
     u'H'
     '''
+    if (<Lexeme*>lex_id).orth == NULL:
+        return 0
     return (<Lexeme*>lex_id).orth.first
 
 
+cpdef StringHash length_of(size_t lex_id):
+    '''Access the `length' field of the Lexeme pointed to by lex_id, which stores
+    the length of the string hashed by lex_of.'''
+    cdef Lexeme* word = <Lexeme*>lex_id
+    if (<Lexeme*>lex_id).orth == NULL:
+        return 0
+    return (<Lexeme*>lex_id).orth.length
+
+
 cpdef double prob_of(size_t lex_id):
     '''Access the `prob' field of the Lexeme pointed to by lex_id, which stores
     the smoothed unigram log probability of the word, as estimated from a large
diff --git a/tests/test_orth.py b/tests/test_orth.py
index 8d9939f4c..f13fa90bf 100644
--- a/tests/test_orth.py
+++ b/tests/test_orth.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import pytest
 
 from spacy.en import lookup, unhash
 
-from spacy.lexeme import sic_of, lex_of, norm_of, shape_of, first_of
+from spacy.lexeme import sic_of, lex_of, norm_of, shape_of, first_of, length_of
 from spacy.lexeme import shape_of
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -14,3 +14,16 @@ def C3P0():
 
 def test_shape(C3P0):
     assert unhash(shape_of(C3P0)) == "XdXd"
+
+
+def test_length():
+    t = lookup('the')
+    assert length_of(t) == 3
+    t = lookup('')
+    assert length_of(t) == 0
+    t = lookup("n't")
+    assert length_of(t) == 3
+    t = lookup("'s")
+    assert length_of(t) == 2
+    t = lookup('Xxxx')
+    assert length_of(t) == 4