diff --git a/lib/strings.nix b/lib/strings.nix
index 9cbd1494a2b5..e6df7d99cb2e 100644
--- a/lib/strings.nix
+++ b/lib/strings.nix
@@ -437,6 +437,13 @@ rec {
   */
   fixedWidthNumber = width: n: fixedWidthString width "0" (toString n);
 
+  /* Check whether a value can be coerced to a string */
+  isCoercibleToString = x:
+    builtins.elem (builtins.typeOf x) [ "path" "string" "null" "int" "float" "bool" ] ||
+    (builtins.isList x && lib.all isCoercibleToString x) ||
+    x ? outPath ||
+    x ? __toString;
+
   /* Check whether a value is a store path.
 
      Example:
@@ -450,7 +457,7 @@ rec {
        => false
   */
   isStorePath = x:
-       builtins.isString x
+       isCoercibleToString x
     && builtins.substring 0 1 (toString x) == "/"
     && dirOf (builtins.toPath x) == builtins.storeDir;
 
diff --git a/lib/tests/misc.nix b/lib/tests/misc.nix
index 1657ec33a46c..e10aea48e48e 100644
--- a/lib/tests/misc.nix
+++ b/lib/tests/misc.nix
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ runTests {
             "${builtins.storeDir}/d945ibfx9x185xf04b890y4f9g3cbb63-python-2.7.11";
       in {
         storePath = isStorePath goodPath;
+        storePathDerivation = isStorePath (import ../.. {}).hello;
         storePathAppendix = isStorePath
           "${goodPath}/bin/python";
         nonAbsolute = isStorePath (concatStrings (tail (stringToCharacters goodPath)));
@@ -106,6 +107,7 @@ runTests {
       };
     expected = {
       storePath = true;
+      storePathDerivation = true;
       storePathAppendix = false;
       nonAbsolute = false;
       asPath = true;