diff --git a/string.c b/string.c
index 9fcb74261c..6abfcd33f8 100644
--- a/string.c
+++ b/string.c
@@ -1335,14 +1335,6 @@ rb_str_new_with_class(VALUE obj, const char *ptr, long len)
     return str_new0(rb_obj_class(obj), ptr, len, TERM_LEN(obj));
 }
 
-static VALUE
-str_new_empty(VALUE str)
-{
-    VALUE v = rb_str_new_with_class(str, 0, 0);
-    rb_enc_copy(v, str);
-    return v;
-}
-
 static VALUE
 str_new_empty_String(VALUE str)
 {