diff --git a/guix/utils.scm b/guix/utils.scm
index 6c01edde21..725f4346c3 100644
--- a/guix/utils.scm
+++ b/guix/utils.scm
@@ -85,7 +85,6 @@ (define-module (guix utils)
             fold2
             fold-tree
             fold-tree-leaves
-            split
             cache-directory
             readlink*
             edit-expression
@@ -788,23 +787,6 @@ (define (fold-tree-leaves proc init children roots)
        (else result)))
    init children roots))
 
-(define (split lst e)
-  "Return two values, a list containing the elements of the list LST that
-appear before the first occurence of the object E and a list containing the
-elements after E."
-  (define (same? x)
-    (equal? e x))
-
-  (let loop ((rest lst)
-             (acc '()))
-    (match rest
-      (()
-       (values lst '()))
-      (((? same?) . tail)
-       (values (reverse acc) tail))
-      ((head . tail)
-       (loop tail (cons head acc))))))
-
 (define (cache-directory)
   "Return the cache directory for Guix, by default ~/.cache/guix."
   (or (getenv "XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
diff --git a/tests/utils.scm b/tests/utils.scm
index d0ee02a1cf..854999f670 100644
--- a/tests/utils.scm
+++ b/tests/utils.scm
@@ -122,20 +122,6 @@ (define temp-file
                '(0 1 2 3)))
     list))
 
-(test-equal "split, element is in list"
-  '((foo) (baz))
-  (call-with-values
-      (lambda ()
-        (split '(foo bar baz) 'bar))
-    list))
-
-(test-equal "split, element is not in list"
-  '((foo bar baz) ())
-  (call-with-values
-      (lambda ()
-        (split '(foo bar baz) 'quux))
-    list))
-
 (test-equal "strip-keyword-arguments"
   '(a #:b b #:c c)
   (strip-keyword-arguments '(#:foo #:bar #:baz)