diff --git a/util/strutil/jarowinkler.go b/util/strutil/jarowinkler.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..43cc60df51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/strutil/jarowinkler.go
@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+// Copyright The Prometheus Authors
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package strutil
+
+// JaroWinklerMatcher pre-computes the encoding of a fixed search term so that
+// it can be scored against many candidate strings without repeating the ASCII
+// check or rune conversion on the term for every call. The first Score call
+// with a Unicode candidate lazily caches the term's rune slice. It is not
+// safe for concurrent use.
+type JaroWinklerMatcher struct {
+	term      string // original term; used directly on the ASCII path
+	termASCII bool   // whether term is pure ASCII
+	termRunes []rune // pre-converted runes; set when !termASCII or on first Unicode candidate
+}
+
+// NewJaroWinklerMatcher returns a matcher for the given term.
+func NewJaroWinklerMatcher(term string) *JaroWinklerMatcher {
+	if isASCII(term) {
+		return &JaroWinklerMatcher{term: term, termASCII: true}
+	}
+	return &JaroWinklerMatcher{term: term, termRunes: []rune(term)}
+}
+
+// Score returns the Jaro-Winkler similarity between the matcher's term and s,
+// in [0.0, 1.0] where 1.0 means identical strings.
+func (m *JaroWinklerMatcher) Score(s string) float64 {
+	if m.term == s {
+		return 1.0
+	}
+	if m.term == "" || s == "" {
+		return 0.0
+	}
+	if m.termASCII && isASCII(s) {
+		return jaroWinklerString(m.term, s)
+	}
+	// Either the term or s is Unicode; use the rune path.
+	if m.termRunes == nil {
+		// term is ASCII but s is Unicode; convert and cache term runes.
+		m.termRunes = []rune(m.term)
+	}
+	return jaroWinklerRunes(m.termRunes, []rune(s))
+}
+
+// isASCII reports whether s contains only ASCII characters.
+func isASCII(s string) bool {
+	for i := range len(s) {
+		if s[i] >= 0x80 {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// jaroWinklerString implements the Jaro-Winkler algorithm directly on ASCII
+// strings, avoiding any []rune conversion.
+func jaroWinklerString(s1, s2 string) float64 {
+	l1, l2 := len(s1), len(s2)
+
+	// Swap so s1 is always the shorter string.
+	if l1 > l2 {
+		s1, s2 = s2, s1
+		l1, l2 = l2, l1
+	}
+
+	// Jaro match distance: characters must be within this many positions to match.
+	matchDistance := max(l2/2-1, 0)
+
+	s1Matches := make([]bool, l1)
+	s2Matches := make([]bool, l2)
+
+	var matches float64
+	var transpositions float64
+
+	for i := range l1 {
+		start := max(i-matchDistance, 0)
+		end := min(i+matchDistance+1, l2)
+
+		for j := start; j < end; j++ {
+			if s2Matches[j] || s1[i] != s2[j] {
+				continue
+			}
+			s1Matches[i] = true
+			s2Matches[j] = true
+			matches++
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	if matches == 0 {
+		return 0.0
+	}
+
+	k := 0
+	for i := range l1 {
+		if !s1Matches[i] {
+			continue
+		}
+		for !s2Matches[k] {
+			k++
+		}
+		if s1[i] != s2[k] {
+			transpositions++
+		}
+		k++
+	}
+
+	// Use precomputed reciprocals to replace repeated divisions.
+	invL1 := 1.0 / float64(l1)
+	invL2 := 1.0 / float64(l2)
+	jaro := (matches*invL1 + matches*invL2 + (matches-transpositions*0.5)/matches) / 3.0
+
+	// Winkler modification: boost for common prefix up to 4 characters.
+	prefixLen := 0
+	for prefixLen < min(4, l1, l2) && s1[prefixLen] == s2[prefixLen] {
+		prefixLen++
+	}
+
+	const p = 0.1 // Standard Winkler prefix scaling factor; not intended to be user-configurable.
+	return jaro + float64(prefixLen)*p*(1.0-jaro)
+}
+
+// jaroWinklerRunes implements the Jaro-Winkler algorithm over pre-converted
+// rune slices for the Unicode path.
+func jaroWinklerRunes(r1, r2 []rune) float64 {
+	l1, l2 := len(r1), len(r2)
+
+	// Swap so r1 is always the shorter slice.
+	if l1 > l2 {
+		r1, r2 = r2, r1
+		l1, l2 = l2, l1
+	}
+
+	// Jaro match distance: characters must be within this many positions to match.
+	matchDistance := max(l2/2-1, 0)
+
+	r1Matches := make([]bool, l1)
+	r2Matches := make([]bool, l2)
+
+	var matches float64
+	var transpositions float64
+
+	for i := range l1 {
+		start := max(i-matchDistance, 0)
+		end := min(i+matchDistance+1, l2)
+
+		for j := start; j < end; j++ {
+			if r2Matches[j] || r1[i] != r2[j] {
+				continue
+			}
+			r1Matches[i] = true
+			r2Matches[j] = true
+			matches++
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	if matches == 0 {
+		return 0.0
+	}
+
+	k := 0
+	for i := range l1 {
+		if !r1Matches[i] {
+			continue
+		}
+		for !r2Matches[k] {
+			k++
+		}
+		if r1[i] != r2[k] {
+			transpositions++
+		}
+		k++
+	}
+
+	// Use precomputed reciprocals to replace repeated divisions.
+	invL1 := 1.0 / float64(l1)
+	invL2 := 1.0 / float64(l2)
+	jaro := (matches*invL1 + matches*invL2 + (matches-transpositions*0.5)/matches) / 3.0
+
+	// Winkler modification: boost for common prefix up to 4 characters.
+	prefixLen := 0
+	for prefixLen < min(4, l1, l2) && r1[prefixLen] == r2[prefixLen] {
+		prefixLen++
+	}
+
+	const p = 0.1 // Standard Winkler prefix scaling factor; not intended to be user-configurable.
+	return jaro + float64(prefixLen)*p*(1.0-jaro)
+}
diff --git a/util/strutil/jarowinkler_bench_test.go b/util/strutil/jarowinkler_bench_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..35f0af6e69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/strutil/jarowinkler_bench_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// Copyright The Prometheus Authors
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package strutil
+
+import "testing"
+
+var benchCases = []struct {
+	name, s1, s2 string
+}{
+	{"identical_short", "prometheus", "prometheus"},
+	{"similar_short", "martha", "marhta"},
+	{"dissimilar_short", "dixon", "dicksonx"},
+	{"long_ascii", "http_requests_total_by_method_and_path", "http_requests_count_by_method_and_path"},
+	{"unicode", "naïve", "naive"},
+}
+
+func BenchmarkJaroWinklerMatcher(b *testing.B) {
+	for _, bc := range benchCases {
+		b.Run(bc.name, func(b *testing.B) {
+			m := NewJaroWinklerMatcher(bc.s1)
+			for range b.N {
+				m.Score(bc.s2)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/util/strutil/jarowinkler_test.go b/util/strutil/jarowinkler_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84c5e73abb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/strutil/jarowinkler_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+// Copyright The Prometheus Authors
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package strutil
+
+import (
+	"math"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestJaroWinklerMatcher(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		s1, s2 string
+		min    float64
+		max    float64
+	}{
+		// Identical strings.
+		{"prometheus", "prometheus", 1.0, 1.0},
+		{"", "", 1.0, 1.0},
+
+		// Empty vs non-empty.
+		{"", "abc", 0.0, 0.0},
+		{"abc", "", 0.0, 0.0},
+
+		// Completely different strings.
+		{"abc", "xyz", 0.0, 0.01},
+
+		// Similar strings.
+		{"mimir", "mimer", 0.90, 0.92},
+		{"martha", "marhta", 0.96, 0.97},
+		{"dwayne", "duane", 0.83, 0.85},
+		{"dixon", "dicksonx", 0.81, 0.83},
+
+		// Single character strings.
+		{"a", "a", 1.0, 1.0},
+		{"a", "b", 0.0, 0.0},
+
+		// Common prefix boost.
+		{"prefix_abc", "prefix_xyz", 0.80, 0.90},
+
+		// Unicode strings (exercises the rune path).
+		{"café", "cafe", 0.88, 0.89},
+		{"naïve", "naive", 0.89, 0.90},
+		{"résumé", "resume", 0.79, 0.81},
+		// Identical Unicode strings.
+		{"café", "café", 1.0, 1.0},
+		// Empty vs Unicode.
+		{"", "café", 0.0, 0.0},
+		{"café", "", 0.0, 0.0},
+		// Two Unicode strings compared to each other.
+		{"café", "cafè", 0.88, 0.89},
+		// Common Unicode prefix (exercises Winkler boost on runes).
+		{"préfixe_abc", "préfixe_xyz", 0.80, 0.90},
+		// Unicode strings with unequal rune lengths (exercises swap in rune path).
+		{"naïve_long", "naïve", 0.89, 0.91},
+		// Completely different Unicode strings (exercises zero-matches in rune path).
+		{"äöü", "éèê", 0.0, 0.01},
+		// Unicode transpositions (mirrors martha/marhta in rune path).
+		{"màrthà", "màrhtà", 0.96, 0.97},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.s1+"_"+tt.s2, func(t *testing.T) {
+			score := NewJaroWinklerMatcher(tt.s1).Score(tt.s2)
+			if score < tt.min || score > tt.max {
+				t.Errorf("NewJaroWinklerMatcher(%q).Score(%q) = %f, want in [%f, %f]", tt.s1, tt.s2, score, tt.min, tt.max)
+			}
+			// Verify symmetry.
+			reverse := NewJaroWinklerMatcher(tt.s2).Score(tt.s1)
+			if math.Abs(score-reverse) > 1e-10 {
+				t.Errorf("NewJaroWinklerMatcher(%q).Score(%q) = %f, but NewJaroWinklerMatcher(%q).Score(%q) = %f (not symmetric)", tt.s1, tt.s2, score, tt.s2, tt.s1, reverse)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}