Index: wp-includes/taxonomy.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/taxonomy.php	(revision 18061)
+++ wp-includes/taxonomy.php	(working copy)
@@ -946,6 +946,33 @@
 }
 
 /**
+ * Find a term in taxonomy by its hierarchical slug.
+ *
+ * If the term does not exist - null will be returned.
+ * If the term exists - term object will be returned.
+ *
+ * @param string $slug term slug
+ * @param string $taxonomy Taxonomy to search in
+ * @return object Term Row from database. Will return null if $taxonomy does not exist or $term was not found.
+ */
+
+
+function get_term_by_slug($slug, $taxonomy, $parent = 0){
+	list($slug, $remaining) = split('/', $slug, 2);
+	$terms = get_terms(array($taxonomy), array(
+		'slug' => $slug, 'hide_empty' => false,
+		'parent' => $parent
+	));
+	if (!count($terms)){
+		return null;
+	}
+	if ($remaining){
+		return get_term_by_slug($remaining, $taxonomy, $terms[0]->term_id);
+	}
+	return $terms[0];
+}
+
+/**
  * Merge all term children into a single array of their IDs.
  *
  * This recursive function will merge all of the children of $term into the same
