diff --git a/base/show.jl b/base/show.jl
index fc81db8fb4018..1325c40a90cc8 100644
--- a/base/show.jl
+++ b/base/show.jl
@@ -236,6 +236,16 @@ function show_datatype(io::IO, x::DataType)
     end
 end
 
+function show_supertypes(io::IO, typ::DataType)
+    print(io, typ)
+    while typ != Any
+        typ = supertype(typ)
+        print(io, " <: ", typ)
+    end
+end
+
+show_supertypes(typ::DataType) = show_supertypes(STDOUT, typ)
+
 macro show(exs...)
     blk = Expr(:block)
     for ex in exs
diff --git a/test/show.jl b/test/show.jl
index e70904452b64b..fed4932db709b 100644
--- a/test/show.jl
+++ b/test/show.jl
@@ -670,3 +670,6 @@ let m = which(T20332{Int}(), (Int,)),
 end
 
 @test sprint(show, Main) == "Main"
+
+@test sprint(show_supertypes, Int64) == "Int64 <: Signed <: Integer <: Real <: Number <: Any"
+@test sprint(show_supertypes, Vector{String}) == "Array{String,1} <: DenseArray{String,1} <: AbstractArray{String,1} <: Any"