diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/byte-opt.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/byte-opt.el
index 9feea34ac9e..ce2d8ac47c4 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/byte-opt.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/byte-opt.el
@@ -1179,14 +1179,6 @@ See Info node `(elisp) Integer Basics'."
         form          ; No improvement.
       (cons 'concat (nreverse newargs)))))
 
-(defun byte-optimize-string-greaterp (form)
-  ;; Rewrite in terms of `string-lessp' which has its own bytecode.
-  (pcase (cdr form)
-    (`(,a ,b) (let ((arg1 (make-symbol "arg1")))
-                `(let ((,arg1 ,a))
-                   (string-lessp ,b ,arg1))))
-    (_ form)))
-
 (put 'identity 'byte-optimizer #'byte-optimize-identity)
 (put 'memq 'byte-optimizer #'byte-optimize-memq)
 (put 'memql  'byte-optimizer #'byte-optimize-member)
@@ -1214,8 +1206,6 @@ See Info node `(elisp) Integer Basics'."
 (put '>  'byte-optimizer #'byte-opt--nary-comparison)
 (put '>= 'byte-optimizer #'byte-opt--nary-comparison)
 
-(put 'string-greaterp 'byte-optimizer #'byte-optimize-string-greaterp)
-
 (put 'concat 'byte-optimizer #'byte-optimize-concat)
 
 ;; I'm not convinced that this is necessary.  Doesn't the optimizer loop
diff --git a/lisp/subr.el b/lisp/subr.el
index 466b4791c06..e29f0930b93 100644
--- a/lisp/subr.el
+++ b/lisp/subr.el
@@ -6222,7 +6222,10 @@ consisting of STR followed by an invisible left-to-right mark
   "Return non-nil if STRING1 is greater than STRING2 in lexicographic order.
 Case is significant.
 Symbols are also allowed; their print names are used instead."
-  (declare (pure t) (side-effect-free t))
+  (declare (compiler-macro (lambda (_)
+                             (let ((arg1 (make-symbol "arg1")))
+                               `(let ((,arg1 ,string1))
+                                  (string-lessp ,string2 ,arg1))))))
   (string-lessp string2 string1))