diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 7ac461a..14dec26 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ humantime = "2.0"
 lscolors = "0.7"
 globset = "0.4"
 anyhow = "1.0"
+dirs = "2.0"
 
 [dependencies.clap]
 version = "2.31.2"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b984529..ad7c7bf 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -458,6 +458,10 @@ To make exclude-patterns like these permanent, you can create a `.fdignore` file
 ```
 Note: `fd` also supports `.ignore` files that are used by other programs such as `rg` or `ag`.
 
+If you want `fd` to ignore these patterns globally, you can put them in `fd`'s global ignore file.
+This is usually located in `~/.config/fd/ignore` in macOS or Linux, and `%APPDATA%\fd\ignore` in
+Windows.
+
 ### Using fd with `xargs` or `parallel`
 
 If we want to run a command on all search results, we can pipe the output to `xargs`:
diff --git a/doc/fd.1 b/doc/fd.1
index 923e5d7..9bc0352 100644
--- a/doc/fd.1
+++ b/doc/fd.1
@@ -33,10 +33,9 @@ Include hidden files and directories in the search results
 .B \-I, \-\-no\-ignore
 Show search results from files and directories that would otherwise be ignored by
 .IR .gitignore ,
-.I .ignore
-or
-.I .fdignore
-files.
+.IR .ignore ,
+.IR .fdignore ,
+or the global ignore file.
 .TP
 .B \-u, \-\-unrestricted
 Alias for '--no-ignore'. Can be repeated; '-uu' is an alias for '--no-ignore --hidden'.
@@ -282,6 +281,14 @@ The glob syntax is documented here:
 .B LS_COLORS
 Determines how to colorize search results, see
 .BR dircolors (1) .
+.TP
+.B XDG_CONFIG_HOME, HOME
+Used to locate the global ignore file. If
+.B XDG_CONFIG_HOME
+is set, use
+.IR $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/fd/ignore .
+Otherwise, use
+.IR $HOME/.config/fd/ignore .
 .SH EXAMPLES
 .TP
 .RI "Find files and directories that match the pattern '" needle "':"
diff --git a/src/app.rs b/src/app.rs
index 6faa2dd..bad5a79 100644
--- a/src/app.rs
+++ b/src/app.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ pub fn build_app() -> App<'static, 'static> {
                 .help("Do not respect .(git|fd)ignore files")
                 .long_help(
                     "Show search results from files and directories that would otherwise be \
-                         ignored by '.gitignore', '.ignore' or '.fdignore' files.",
+                         ignored by '.gitignore', '.ignore', '.fdignore', or the global ignore file.",
                 ),
         )
         .arg(
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ pub fn build_app() -> App<'static, 'static> {
                          ignored by '.gitignore' files.",
                 ),
         )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::with_name("no-global-ignore-file")
+                .long("no-global-ignore-file")
+                .hidden(true)
+                .long_help("Do not respect the global ignore file."),
+        )
         .arg(
             Arg::with_name("rg-alias-hidden-ignore")
                 .short("u")
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 96c887f..fa0e462 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -294,6 +294,9 @@ fn run() -> Result<ExitCode> {
         read_vcsignore: !(matches.is_present("no-ignore")
             || matches.is_present("rg-alias-hidden-ignore")
             || matches.is_present("no-ignore-vcs")),
+        read_global_ignore: !(matches.is_present("no-ignore")
+            || matches.is_present("rg-alias-hidden-ignore")
+            || matches.is_present("no-global-ignore-file")),
         follow_links: matches.is_present("follow"),
         one_file_system: matches.is_present("one-file-system"),
         null_separator: matches.is_present("null_separator"),
diff --git a/src/options.rs b/src/options.rs
index 19906db..dd11506 100644
--- a/src/options.rs
+++ b/src/options.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ pub struct Options {
     /// Whether to respect VCS ignore files (`.gitignore`, ..) or not.
     pub read_vcsignore: bool,
 
+    /// Whether to respect the global ignore file or not.
+    pub read_global_ignore: bool,
+
     /// Whether to follow symlinks or not.
     pub follow_links: bool,
 
diff --git a/src/walk.rs b/src/walk.rs
index 56c0bc0..1082e1c 100644
--- a/src/walk.rs
+++ b/src/walk.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use std::borrow::Cow;
+use std::env;
 use std::ffi::OsStr;
 use std::fs::{FileType, Metadata};
 use std::io;
@@ -82,6 +83,34 @@ pub fn scan(path_vec: &[PathBuf], pattern: Arc<Regex>, config: Arc<Options>) ->
         walker.add_custom_ignore_filename(".fdignore");
     }
 
+    if config.read_global_ignore {
+        #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+        let config_dir_op = env::var_os("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
+            .map(PathBuf::from)
+            .filter(|p| p.is_absolute())
+            .or_else(|| dirs::home_dir().map(|d| d.join(".config")));
+
+        #[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
+        let config_dir_op = dirs::config_dir();
+
+        if let Some(global_ignore_file) = config_dir_op
+            .map(|p| p.join("fd").join("ignore"))
+            .filter(|p| p.is_file())
+        {
+            let result = walker.add_ignore(global_ignore_file);
+            match result {
+                Some(ignore::Error::Partial(_)) => (),
+                Some(err) => {
+                    print_error(format!(
+                        "Malformed pattern in global ignore file. {}.",
+                        err.to_string()
+                    ));
+                }
+                None => (),
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     for ignore_file in &config.ignore_files {
         let result = walker.add_ignore(ignore_file);
         match result {
diff --git a/tests/testenv/mod.rs b/tests/testenv/mod.rs
index a4414a8..ae3e08e 100644
--- a/tests/testenv/mod.rs
+++ b/tests/testenv/mod.rs
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ impl TestEnv {
         // Setup *fd* command.
         let mut cmd = process::Command::new(&self.fd_exe);
         cmd.current_dir(self.temp_dir.path().join(path));
-        cmd.args(args);
+        cmd.arg("--no-global-ignore-file").args(args);
 
         // Run *fd*.
         let output = cmd.output().expect("fd output");
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ impl TestEnv {
         // Setup *fd* command.
         let mut cmd = process::Command::new(&self.fd_exe);
         cmd.current_dir(self.temp_dir.path().join(path));
-        cmd.args(args);
+        cmd.arg("--no-global-ignore-file").args(args);
 
         // Run *fd*.
         let output = cmd.output().expect("fd output");