diff --git a/library/std/src/path.rs b/library/std/src/path.rs
index 7959c63385816..2cdded1dfcf99 100644
--- a/library/std/src/path.rs
+++ b/library/std/src/path.rs
@@ -2154,6 +2154,13 @@ pub struct Path {
 #[stable(since = "1.7.0", feature = "strip_prefix")]
 pub struct StripPrefixError(());
 
+/// An error returned from [`Path::normalize_lexically`] if a `..` parent reference
+/// would escape the path.
+#[unstable(feature = "normalize_lexically", issue = "134694")]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
+#[non_exhaustive]
+pub struct NormalizeError;
+
 impl Path {
     // The following (private!) function allows construction of a path from a u8
     // slice, which is only safe when it is known to follow the OsStr encoding.
@@ -2961,6 +2968,67 @@ impl Path {
         fs::canonicalize(self)
     }
 
+    /// Normalize a path, including `..` without traversing the filesystem.
+    ///
+    /// Returns an error if normalization would leave leading `..` components.
+    ///
+    /// <div class="warning">
+    ///
+    /// This function always resolves `..` to the "lexical" parent.
+    /// That is "a/b/../c" will always resolve to `a/c` which can change the meaning of the path.
+    /// In particular, `a/c` and `a/b/../c` are distinct on many systems because `b` may be a symbolic link, so its parent isn’t `a`.
+    ///
+    /// </div>
+    ///
+    /// [`path::absolute`](absolute) is an alternative that preserves `..`.
+    /// Or [`Path::canonicalize`] can be used to resolve any `..` by querying the filesystem.
+    #[unstable(feature = "normalize_lexically", issue = "134694")]
+    pub fn normalize_lexically(&self) -> Result<PathBuf, NormalizeError> {
+        let mut lexical = PathBuf::new();
+        let mut iter = self.components().peekable();
+
+        // Find the root, if any, and add it to the lexical path.
+        // Here we treat the Windows path "C:\" as a single "root" even though
+        // `components` splits it into two: (Prefix, RootDir).
+        let root = match iter.peek() {
+            Some(Component::ParentDir) => return Err(NormalizeError),
+            Some(p @ Component::RootDir) | Some(p @ Component::CurDir) => {
+                lexical.push(p);
+                iter.next();
+                lexical.as_os_str().len()
+            }
+            Some(Component::Prefix(prefix)) => {
+                lexical.push(prefix.as_os_str());
+                iter.next();
+                if let Some(p @ Component::RootDir) = iter.peek() {
+                    lexical.push(p);
+                    iter.next();
+                }
+                lexical.as_os_str().len()
+            }
+            None => return Ok(PathBuf::new()),
+            Some(Component::Normal(_)) => 0,
+        };
+
+        for component in iter {
+            match component {
+                Component::RootDir => unreachable!(),
+                Component::Prefix(_) => return Err(NormalizeError),
+                Component::CurDir => continue,
+                Component::ParentDir => {
+                    // It's an error if ParentDir causes us to go above the "root".
+                    if lexical.as_os_str().len() == root {
+                        return Err(NormalizeError);
+                    } else {
+                        lexical.pop();
+                    }
+                }
+                Component::Normal(path) => lexical.push(path),
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(lexical)
+    }
+
     /// Reads a symbolic link, returning the file that the link points to.
     ///
     /// This is an alias to [`fs::read_link`].
@@ -3502,6 +3570,15 @@ impl Error for StripPrefixError {
     }
 }
 
+#[unstable(feature = "normalize_lexically", issue = "134694")]
+impl fmt::Display for NormalizeError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.write_str("parent reference `..` points outside of base directory")
+    }
+}
+#[unstable(feature = "normalize_lexically", issue = "134694")]
+impl Error for NormalizeError {}
+
 /// Makes the path absolute without accessing the filesystem.
 ///
 /// If the path is relative, the current directory is used as the base directory.
diff --git a/library/std/tests/path.rs b/library/std/tests/path.rs
index 87e0d226cbd31..781855a2d14aa 100644
--- a/library/std/tests/path.rs
+++ b/library/std/tests/path.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
     path_add_extension,
     path_file_prefix,
     maybe_uninit_slice,
-    os_string_pathbuf_leak
+    os_string_pathbuf_leak,
+    normalize_lexically
 )]
 
 use std::clone::CloneToUninit;
@@ -2007,3 +2008,56 @@ fn test_embedded_newline() {
     assert_eq!(path.file_name(), Some(OsStr::new("foo\nbar")));
     assert_eq!(path.to_str(), Some("foo\nbar"));
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn normalize_lexically() {
+    #[track_caller]
+    fn check_ok(a: &str, b: &str) {
+        assert_eq!(Path::new(a).normalize_lexically().unwrap(), PathBuf::from(b));
+    }
+
+    #[track_caller]
+    fn check_err(a: &str) {
+        assert!(Path::new(a).normalize_lexically().is_err());
+    }
+
+    // Relative paths
+    check_ok("a", "a");
+    check_ok("./a", "./a");
+    check_ok("a/b/c", "a/b/c");
+    check_ok("a/././b/./c/.", "a/b/c");
+    check_ok("a/../c", "c");
+    check_ok("./a/b", "./a/b");
+    check_ok("a/../b/c/..", "b");
+
+    check_err("..");
+    check_err("../..");
+    check_err("a/../..");
+    check_err("a/../../b");
+    check_err("a/../../b/c");
+    check_err("a/../b/../..");
+
+    // Check we don't escape the root or prefix
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    {
+        check_err("/..");
+        check_err("/a/../..");
+    }
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    {
+        check_err(r"C:\..");
+        check_err(r"C:\a\..\..");
+
+        check_err(r"C:..");
+        check_err(r"C:a\..\..");
+
+        check_err(r"\\server\share\..");
+        check_err(r"\\server\share\a\..\..");
+
+        check_err(r"\..");
+        check_err(r"\a\..\..");
+
+        check_err(r"\\?\UNC\server\share\..");
+        check_err(r"\\?\UNC\server\share\a\..\..");
+    }
+}