diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/bytecomp.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/bytecomp.el
index edfd9491a2f..949a1a5e517 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/bytecomp.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/bytecomp.el
@@ -1856,7 +1856,8 @@ It is too wide if it has any lines longer than the largest of
          ;; The native compiler doesn't use those dynamic docstrings.
          (not byte-native-compiling)
          ;; Docstrings can only be dynamic when compiling a file.
-         byte-compile--\#$)
+         byte-compile--\#$
+         (not (equal doc "")))        ; empty lazy strings are pointless
     (let* ((byte-pos (with-memoization
                          ;; Reuse a previously written identical docstring.
                          ;; This is not done out of thriftiness but to try and