diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
index ecbd52e40a1..610456d18ca 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
@@ -201,3 +201,10 @@ ubrk_countAvailable()
 
   return uloc_countAvailable();
 }
+
+
+U_CAPI  UBool U_EXPORT2 
+ubrk_isBoundary(UBreakIterator *bi, int32_t offset)
+{
+    return ((BreakIterator *)bi)->isBoundary(offset);
+};
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h
index 6e176e1c9b6..644ae26e336 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h
@@ -387,4 +387,16 @@ ubrk_getAvailable(int32_t index);
 U_CAPI int32_t U_EXPORT2 
 ubrk_countAvailable(void);
 
+
+/**
+* Returns true if the specfied position is a boundary position.  As a side
+* effect, leaves the iterator pointing to the first boundary position at
+* or after "offset".
+* @param bi The break iterator to use.
+* @param offset the offset to check.
+* @return True if "offset" is a boundary position.
+*/
+U_CAPI  UBool U_EXPORT2 
+ubrk_isBoundary(UBreakIterator *bi, int32_t offset);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
index 67f2df2a705..15321ed33ef 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     uint8_t buffer [CLONETEST_ITERATOR_COUNT] [U_BRK_SAFECLONE_BUFFERSIZE];
     int32_t bufferSize = U_BRK_SAFECLONE_BUFFERSIZE;
 
+    /* Note:  the adjacent "" are concatenating strings, not adding a \" to the
+       string, which is probably what whoever wrote this intended.  Don't fix,
+       because it would throw off the hard coded break positions in the following
+       tests. */
     u_uastrcpy(text, "He's from Africa. ""Mr. Livingston, I presume?"" Yeah");
 
 
@@ -146,7 +150,16 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     pos=ubrk_previous(word);
     log_verbose("%d \n", pos);
 
-
+    if (ubrk_isBoundary(word, 2) != FALSE) {
+        log_err("error ubrk_isBoundary(word, 2) did not return FALSE\n");
+    }
+    pos=ubrk_current(word);
+    if (pos != 4) {
+        log_err("error ubrk_current() != 4 after ubrk_isBoundary(word, 2)\n");
+    }
+    if (ubrk_isBoundary(word, 4) != TRUE) {
+        log_err("error ubrk_isBoundary(word, 4) did not return TRUE\n");
+    }