diff --git a/libcxx/src/system_error.cpp b/libcxx/src/system_error.cpp
index f187090f75b6c..1cc6b7d7e1e63 100644
--- a/libcxx/src/system_error.cpp
+++ b/libcxx/src/system_error.cpp
@@ -266,8 +266,15 @@ system_error::~system_error() noexcept
 {
 }
 
-void __throw_system_error(int ev, const char* what_arg) {
-  std::__throw_system_error(error_code(ev, system_category()), what_arg);
+void
+__throw_system_error(int ev, const char* what_arg)
+{
+#ifndef _LIBCPP_HAS_NO_EXCEPTIONS
+    std::__throw_system_error(error_code(ev, system_category()), what_arg);
+#else
+    // The above could also handle the no-exception case, but for size, avoid referencing system_category() unnecessarily.
+    _LIBCPP_VERBOSE_ABORT("system_error was thrown in -fno-exceptions mode with error %i and message \"%s\"", ev, what_arg);
+#endif
 }
 
 _LIBCPP_END_NAMESPACE_STD