diff --git a/Sources/Utils.php b/Sources/Utils.php
index 32544997ef..3caace4b25 100644
--- a/Sources/Utils.php
+++ b/Sources/Utils.php
@@ -1053,10 +1053,11 @@ public static function buildRegex(array $strings, ?string $delim = null, bool $r
 
 		// Can we trim common characters from the end?
 		$trailing = '';
+		$i = -1;
 		unset($normalized_strings);
 
-		while (mb_strlen($strings[0], $encoding) > 1) {
-			$last_char = mb_substr($strings[0], -1, 1, $encoding);
+		while (\strlen($strings[0]) > 1) {
+			$last_char = mb_substr($strings[0], $i, null, $encoding);
 
 			foreach ($strings as $string) {
 				if (!str_ends_with($string, $last_char)) {
@@ -1064,37 +1065,101 @@ public static function buildRegex(array $strings, ?string $delim = null, bool $r
 				}
 			}
 
-			$strings = array_map(fn($string) => mb_substr($string, 0, -1, $encoding), $strings);
-			$trailing = $last_char . $trailing;
+			$i--;
+			$trailing = $last_char;
 		}
 
-		// Create the trie from the strings.
+		if ($trailing !== '') {
+			$strings = array_map(fn($string) => substr($string, 0, -\strlen($trailing)), $strings);
+		}
+
+		// Build a radix tree from the input strings
 		$trie = [];
 
 		foreach ($strings as $string) {
-			$chars = mb_str_split($string, 1, $encoding);
+			$current_node = &$trie;
+
+			$remaining = $string;
+
+			while ($remaining !== '') {
+				$matched = false;
+
+				// Check each existing branch at this level
+				foreach ($current_node as $key => &$subtree) {
+					// Find longest common prefix
+					$len_key = \strlen($key);
+					$len_remaining = \strlen($remaining);
+					$byte_prefix_len = 0;
+
+					// Determine the length (in bytes) of the common UTF-8 prefix between
+					// $key and $remaining.
+					while ($byte_prefix_len < $len_key && $byte_prefix_len < $len_remaining) {
+						$byte_key = \ord($key[$byte_prefix_len]);
+						$byte_remaining = \ord($remaining[$byte_prefix_len]);
+
+						// Determine how many bytes the current UTF-8 character occupies
+						// (1-byte for ASCII, 2/3/4 bytes for multibyte UTF-8 chars)
+						$byte_len_key = ($byte_key < 0x80) ? 1 : (($byte_key >> 5) === 0x6 ? 2 : (($byte_key >> 4) === 0xE ? 3 : 4));
+						$byte_len_remaining = ($byte_remaining < 0x80) ? 1 : (($byte_remaining >> 5) === 0x6 ? 2 : (($byte_remaining >> 4) === 0xE ? 3 : 4));
+
+						// Safely compares multibyte characters to avoid splitting UTF-8 sequences.
+						if ($byte_len_key !== $byte_len_remaining || substr($key, $byte_prefix_len, $byte_len_key) !== substr($remaining, $byte_prefix_len, $byte_len_key)) {
+							break;
+						}
+
+						// Advance by the full length of the matching UTF-8 character
+						$byte_prefix_len += $byte_len_key;
+					}
+
+					if ($byte_prefix_len === 0) {
+						continue;
+					}
 
-			$node = &$trie;
+					// Splitting these strings based on manually calculated byte offsets is
+					// faster than calling multibyte.  mb_substr() has to recalculate every time.
+					$prefix = substr($key, 0, $byte_prefix_len);
+					$key_remainder = substr($key, $byte_prefix_len);
+					$remaining_remainder = substr($remaining, $byte_prefix_len);
+
+					// Split existing node if needed
+					if ($key_remainder !== '') {
+						unset($current_node[$key]);
+						$current_node[$prefix] = [$key_remainder => $subtree];
+						$subtree = &$current_node[$prefix];
+					}
 
-			foreach ($chars as $char) {
-				if (!isset($node[$char])) {
-					$node[$char] = [];
+					// Add remainder of current string
+					if ($remaining_remainder === '') {
+						$subtree[''] = '';
+					} else {
+						$current_node = &$subtree;
+						$remaining = $remaining_remainder;
+						$matched = true;
+						break; // continue inner loop with updated current_node
+					}
+
+					$matched = true;
+					break;
 				}
 
-				$node = &$node[$char];
+				if (!$matched) {
+					// No matching branch: insert new
+					$current_node[$remaining] = ['' => ''];
+					break; // done with this string
+				}
 			}
 
-			$node[''] = '';
+			unset($current_node); // break reference
 		}
 
+//~ var_dump($trie	);
+
 		// This recursive closure turns the trie into a regular expression.
 		$trie_to_regex = function (array &$trie, ?string $delim = null) use (&$trie_to_regex, $encoding) {
 			static $depth = 0;
 			$depth++;
 
-			// Absolute max length for a regex is 32768, but we might need wiggle room
 			$max_length = 30000;
-
 			$regex = [];
 			$length = 0;
 
@@ -1107,9 +1172,8 @@ public static function buildRegex(array $strings, ?string $delim = null, bool $r
 				} else {
 					$sub_regex = $trie_to_regex($value, $delim);
 
-					if (\count(array_keys($value)) == 1) {
-						$new_key_array = explode('(?' . '>', $sub_regex);
-						$new_key .= $new_key_array[0];
+					if (count($value) == 1) {
+						$new_key .= strtok($sub_regex, '(?>');
 					} else {
 						$sub_regex = '(?' . '>' . $sub_regex . ')';
 					}