diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/getaddrinfo.h b/esphome/components/socket/getaddrinfo.h
index dc18991cdc..92847db468 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/getaddrinfo.h
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/getaddrinfo.h
@@ -30,4 +30,5 @@ std::unique_ptr<GetaddrinfoFuture> getaddrinfo_async(const char *node, const cha
 
 #ifdef USE_ESP8266
 void freeaddrinfo(struct addrinfo *ai);
+const char *gai_strerror(int errcode);
 #endif
diff --git a/esphome/components/socket/lwip_getaddrinfo_impl.cpp b/esphome/components/socket/lwip_getaddrinfo_impl.cpp
index 02b75e81a2..d5cd441534 100644
--- a/esphome/components/socket/lwip_getaddrinfo_impl.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/socket/lwip_getaddrinfo_impl.cpp
@@ -178,6 +178,20 @@ void freeaddrinfo(struct addrinfo *ai) {
     ai = next;
   }
 }
+const char *gai_strerror(int errcode) {
+  switch (errcode) {
+    case EAI_BADFLAGS: return "badflags";
+    case EAI_NONAME: return "noname";
+    case EAI_AGAIN: return "again";
+    case EAI_FAMILY: return "family";
+    case EAI_SOCKTYPE: return "socktype";
+    case EAI_SERVICE: return "service";
+    case EAI_MEMORY: return "memory";
+    case EAI_SYSTEM: return "system";
+    case EAI_OVERFLOW: return "overflow";
+    default: return "unknown";
+  }
+}
 #endif
 
 #endif  // USE_SOCKET_HAS_LWIP