diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/TypeLiteral.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/TypeLiteral.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a21a83351
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/TypeLiteral.java
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.commons.lang3.reflect;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+import java.lang.reflect.TypeVariable;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
+
+/**
+ * Type literal comparable to {@code javax.enterprise.util.TypeLiteral},
+ * made generally available outside the JEE context. Allows the passing around of
+ * a "token" that represents a type in a typesafe manner, as opposed to
+ * passing the (non-parameterized) {@link Type} object itself.
+ * Additionally {@link TypeLiteral} implements the {@link Typed} interface which
+ * is a generalization of this concept. It is suggested that APIs be defined in
+ * terms of the interface, which others might implemented in custom classes.
+ */
+public abstract class TypeLiteral<T> implements Typed<T> {
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    private static final TypeVariable<Class<TypeLiteral>> T = TypeLiteral.class.getTypeParameters()[0];
+
+    /**
+     * Represented type.
+     */
+    public final Type value;
+
+    private final String toString;
+
+    protected TypeLiteral() {
+        this.value =
+            Validate.notNull(TypeUtils.getTypeArguments(getClass(), TypeLiteral.class).get(T),
+                "%s does not assign type parameter %s", getClass(), TypeUtils.toLongString(T));
+
+        this.toString = String.format("%s<%s>", TypeLiteral.class.getSimpleName(), TypeUtils.toString(value));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public final boolean equals(Object obj) {
+        if (obj == this) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (obj instanceof TypeLiteral == false) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        final TypeLiteral<?> other = (TypeLiteral<?>) obj;
+        return TypeUtils.equals(value, other.value);
+    }
+
+    @Override 
+    public int hashCode() {
+        return 37 << 4 | value.hashCode();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return toString;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Type getType() {
+        return value;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/Typed.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/Typed.java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b5e782d82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/Typed.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.commons.lang3.reflect;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+
+/**
+ * Generalization of "has a type."
+ */
+public interface Typed<T> {
+
+    /**
+     * Get the {@link Type} represented by this entity.
+     * 
+     * @return Type
+     */
+    Type getType();
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/TypeLiteralTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/TypeLiteralTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..287fb4954
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/reflect/TypeLiteralTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.commons.lang3.reflect;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class TypeLiteralTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBasic() {
+        assertTrue(TypeUtils.equals(String.class, new TypeLiteral<String>() {}.value));
+        assertTrue(TypeUtils.equals(TypeUtils.parameterize(List.class, String.class),
+            new TypeLiteral<List<String>>() {}.value));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testTyped() {
+        final Typed<String> stringType = new TypeLiteral<String>() {};
+        assertTrue(TypeUtils.equals(String.class, stringType.getType()));
+        final Typed<List<String>> listOfStringType = new TypeLiteral<List<String>>() {};
+        assertTrue(TypeUtils.equals(TypeUtils.parameterize(List.class, String.class), listOfStringType.getType()));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testEquals() {
+        assertEquals(new TypeLiteral<String>() {}, new TypeLiteral<String>() {});
+        assertEquals(new TypeLiteral<List<String>>() {}, new TypeLiteral<List<String>>() {});
+        assertNotEquals(new TypeLiteral<String>() {}, new TypeLiteral<List<String>>() {});
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    @Test(expected = NullPointerException.class)
+    public void testRaw() {
+        new TypeLiteral() {};
+    }
+}