diff --git a/spacy/lexeme.pxd b/spacy/lexeme.pxd
index c17994462..6a249bf07 100644
--- a/spacy/lexeme.pxd
+++ b/spacy/lexeme.pxd
@@ -19,3 +19,6 @@ cdef LexemeC* lexeme_init(Pool mem, size_t i, unicode string, double prob, size_
 
 cdef bint lexeme_check_flag(LexemeC* lexeme, size_t flag_id)
 cdef unicode lexeme_string_view(LexemeC* lexeme, size_t view_id)
+
+
+cdef dict lexeme_pack(LexemeC* lexeme)
diff --git a/spacy/lexeme.pyx b/spacy/lexeme.pyx
index 604ec6181..238a954e7 100644
--- a/spacy/lexeme.pyx
+++ b/spacy/lexeme.pyx
@@ -34,3 +34,31 @@ cdef bint lexeme_check_flag(LexemeC* lexeme, size_t flag_id):
 cdef unicode lexeme_string_view(LexemeC* lexeme, size_t view_id):
     cdef bytes byte_string = lexeme.views[view_id]
     return byte_string.decode('utf8')
+
+
+cdef dict lexeme_pack(LexemeC* lexeme):
+    cdef dict packed = {}
+    packed['i'] = lexeme.i
+    packed['length'] = lexeme.length
+    packed['prob'] = lexeme.prob
+    packed['cluster'] = lexeme.cluster
+    packed['string'] = lexeme.string.decode('utf8')
+    packed['views'] = []
+    cdef size_t i = 0
+    while lexeme.views[i] != NULL:
+        packed['views'].append(lexeme.views[i].decode('utf8'))
+        i += 1
+    packed['flags'] = lexeme.flags
+    return packed
+
+
+cdef int lexeme_unpack(LexemeC* lex, dict p) except -1:
+    cdef size_t length
+    lex.i = p['i']
+    lex.length = p['length']
+    lex.prob = p['prob']
+    lex.cluster = p['cluster']
+    lex.string = intern_and_encode(p['string'], &length)
+    for i, view in enumerate(p['views']):
+        lex.views[i] = intern_and_encode(view, &length)
+    lex.flags = p['flags']