diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/editdistance/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/editdistance/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..01e59fdb040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/editdistance/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+{ lib
+, buildPythonPackage
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, pytestCheckHook
+, cython
+}:
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  pname = "editdistance";
+  version = "0.5.3";
+
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "roy-ht";
+    repo = pname;
+    rev = "v${version}";
+    sha256 = "0vk8vz41p2cs7s7zbaw3cnw2jnvy5rhy525xral68dh14digpgsd";
+  };
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ cython ];
+
+  preBuild = ''
+    cythonize --inplace editdistance/bycython.pyx
+  '';
+
+  checkInputs = [ pytestCheckHook ];
+
+  pythonImportsCheck = [ "editdistance" ];
+
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "Python implementation of the edit distance (Levenshtein distance)";
+    homepage = "https://github.com/roy-ht/editdistance";
+    license = with licenses; [ mit ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ fab ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index 205813ddb1c..4673bb8d200 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -2043,6 +2043,8 @@ in {
 
   ed25519 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/ed25519 { };
 
+  editdistance = callPackage ../development/python-modules/editdistance { };
+
   editorconfig = callPackage ../development/python-modules/editorconfig { };
 
   edward = callPackage ../development/python-modules/edward { };