diff --git a/icu4c/source/config/mh-solaris b/icu4c/source/config/mh-solaris
index 9fe95c0f49b..e1d4ccf900f 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/config/mh-solaris
+++ b/icu4c/source/config/mh-solaris
@@ -63,17 +63,34 @@ SO=		so
 ## Non-shared intermediate object suffix
 STATIC_O = o
 
+# This causes escapesrc to be built before other ICU targets.
+NEED_ESCAPING=YES
+
 ## Compilation rules
 %.$(STATIC_O): $(srcdir)/%.c
 	$(COMPILE.c) $(STATICCPPFLAGS) $(STATICCFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 %.o: $(srcdir)/%.c
 	$(COMPILE.c) $(DYNAMICCPPFLAGS) $(DYNAMICCFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
-%.$(STATIC_O): $(srcdir)/%.cpp
-	$(COMPILE.cc) $(STATICCPPFLAGS) $(STATICCXXFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+ifneq ($(SKIP_ESCAPING),)
 %.o: $(srcdir)/%.cpp
 	$(COMPILE.cc) $(DYNAMICCPPFLAGS) $(DYNAMICCXXFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+%.$(STATIC_O): $(srcdir)/%.cpp
+	$(COMPILE.cc) $(STATICCPPFLAGS) $(STATICCXXFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+else
+# convert *.cpp files to _*.cpp with \u / \U escaping
+CLEANFILES += _*.cpp
 
+# the actual escaping
+_%.cpp: $(srcdir)/%.cpp
+	@$(BINDIR)/escapesrc$(EXEEXT) $< $@
+
+# no escaping - bootstrap
+%.$(STATIC_O): _%.cpp
+	$(COMPILE.cc) $(STATICCPPFLAGS) $(STATICCXXFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+%.o: _%.cpp
+	$(COMPILE.cc) $(DYNAMICCPPFLAGS) $(DYNAMICCXXFLAGS) -o $@ $<
+endif
 
 ## Dependency rules
 %.d : $(srcdir)/%.c