diff --git a/wp-includes/taxonomy.php b/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
index 50ed17dd89..9eb9c43cd2 100644
--- a/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
+++ b/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
@@ -165,6 +165,10 @@ function wp_delete_term( $term, $taxonomy, $args = array() ) {
 
 	$wpdb->query("DELETE FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE term_taxonomy_id = '$tt_id'");
 
+	// Delete the term if no taxonomies use it.
+	if ( !$wpdb->get_var("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE term_id = '$term'") )
+		$wpdb->query("DELETE FROM $wpdb->terms WHERE term_id = '$term'");
+
 	clean_term_cache($term, $taxonomy);
 
 	do_action("delete_$taxonomy", $term, $tt_id);