diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml
index c1d1b6b2db..c432599f05 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml
@@ -1249,6 +1249,20 @@ postgresql://%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fpostgresql/dbname
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
 
+     <varlistentry id="libpq-tcp-user-timeout" xreflabel="libpq_tcp_user_timeout">
+      <term><literal>tcp_user_timeout</literal></term>
+      <listitem>
+       <para>
+        Controls the number of milliseconds that transmitted data may
+        remain unacknowledged before a connection is forcefully closed.
+        A value of zero uses the system default. This parameter is
+        ignored for connections made via a Unix-domain socket.
+        It is only supported on systems where TCP_USER_TIMEOUT
+        is available; on other systems, it has no effect.
+       </para>
+      </listitem>
+     </varlistentry>
+
      <varlistentry id="libpq-connect-tty" xreflabel="tty">
       <term><literal>tty</literal></term>
       <listitem>
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
index e3bf6a7449..ee46881c50 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
@@ -264,6 +264,11 @@ static const internalPQconninfoOption PQconninfoOptions[] = {
 		"TCP-Keepalives-Count", "", 10, /* strlen(INT32_MAX) == 10 */
 	offsetof(struct pg_conn, keepalives_count)},
 
+	/* TCP USER TIMEOUT */
+	{"tcp_user_timeout", NULL, NULL, NULL,
+		"TCP_user_timeout", "", 10,	/* strlen(INT32_MAX) == 10 */
+		offsetof(struct pg_conn, pgtcp_user_timeout)},
+
 	/*
 	 * ssl options are allowed even without client SSL support because the
 	 * client can still handle SSL modes "disable" and "allow". Other
@@ -1786,6 +1791,40 @@ setKeepalivesWin32(PGconn *conn)
 #endif							/* SIO_KEEPALIVE_VALS */
 #endif							/* WIN32 */
 
+/*
+ * Set the TCP user timeout.
+ */
+static int
+setTCPUserTimeout(PGconn *conn)
+{
+	int			timeout;
+
+	if (conn->pgtcp_user_timeout == NULL)
+		return 1;
+
+	if (!parse_int_param(conn->pgtcp_user_timeout,
+					&timeout, conn,	"tcp_user_timeout"))
+		return 0;
+
+	if (timeout < 0)
+		timeout = 0;
+
+#ifdef TCP_USER_TIMEOUT
+	if (setsockopt(conn->sock, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_USER_TIMEOUT,
+					(char *) &timeout, sizeof(timeout)) < 0)
+	{
+		char		sebuf[256];
+
+		appendPQExpBuffer(&conn->errorMessage,
+					libpq_gettext("setsockopt(TCP_USER_TIMEOUT) failed: %s\n"),
+						SOCK_STRERROR(SOCK_ERRNO, sebuf, sizeof(sebuf)));
+		return 0;
+	}
+#endif
+
+	return 1;
+}
+
 /* ----------
  * connectDBStart -
  *		Begin the process of making a connection to the backend.
@@ -2428,6 +2467,9 @@ keep_going:						/* We will come back to here until there is
 #endif							/* SIO_KEEPALIVE_VALS */
 #endif							/* WIN32 */
 
+						if (!setTCPUserTimeout(conn))
+							err = 1;
+
 						if (err)
 						{
 							conn->try_next_addr = true;
@@ -3655,6 +3697,8 @@ freePGconn(PGconn *conn)
 		free(conn->pgtty);
 	if (conn->connect_timeout)
 		free(conn->connect_timeout);
+	if (conn->pgtcp_user_timeout)
+		free(conn->pgtcp_user_timeout);
 	if (conn->pgoptions)
 		free(conn->pgoptions);
 	if (conn->appname)
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h b/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h
index dbe0f7e5c0..19068473fd 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h
@@ -336,6 +336,7 @@ struct pg_conn
 	char	   *pgtty;			/* tty on which the backend messages is
 								 * displayed (OBSOLETE, NOT USED) */
 	char	   *connect_timeout;	/* connection timeout (numeric string) */
+	char	   *pgtcp_user_timeout;	/* tcp user timeout (numeric string) */
 	char	   *client_encoding_initial;	/* encoding to use */
 	char	   *pgoptions;		/* options to start the backend with */
 	char	   *appname;		/* application name */