diff --git a/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php b/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
index 70c465a8ad..6043550a65 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/taxonomy.php
@@ -4188,18 +4188,35 @@ function _update_generic_term_count( $terms, $taxonomy ) {
  *
  * @ignore
  * @since 4.2.0
+ * @since 4.3.0 Introduced `$record` parameter. `$term_id` and `$term_taxonomy_id` can now accept objects.
  *
  * @global wpdb $wpdb
  *
- * @param int  $term_id          ID of the shared term.
- * @param int  $term_taxonomy_id ID of the term_taxonomy item to receive a new term.
+ * @param int|object $term_id          ID of the shared term, or the shared term object.
+ * @param int|object $term_taxonomy_id ID of the term_taxonomy item to receive a new term, or the term_taxonomy object
+ *                                     (corresponding to a row from the term_taxonomy table).
+ * @param bool       $record           Whether to record data about the split term in the options table. The recording
+ *                                     process has the potential to be resource-intensive, so during batch operations
+ *                                     it can be beneficial to skip inline recording and do it just once, after the
+ *                                     batch is processed. Only set this to `false` if you know what you are doing.
+ *                                     Default: true.
  * @return int|WP_Error When the current term does not need to be split (or cannot be split on the current
  *                      database schema), `$term_id` is returned. When the term is successfully split, the
  *                      new term_id is returned. A WP_Error is returned for miscellaneous errors.
  */
-function _split_shared_term( $term_id, $term_taxonomy_id ) {
+function _split_shared_term( $term_id, $term_taxonomy_id, $record = true ) {
 	global $wpdb;
 
+	if ( is_object( $term_id ) ) {
+		$shared_term = $term_id;
+		$term_id = intval( $shared_term->term_id );
+	}
+
+	if ( is_object( $term_taxonomy_id ) ) {
+		$term_taxonomy = $term_taxonomy_id;
+		$term_taxonomy_id = intval( $term_taxonomy->term_taxonomy_id );
+	}
+
 	// Don't try to split terms if database schema does not support shared slugs.
 	$current_db_version = get_option( 'db_version' );
 	if ( $current_db_version < 30133 ) {
@@ -4208,12 +4225,15 @@ function _split_shared_term( $term_id, $term_taxonomy_id ) {
 
 	// If there are no shared term_taxonomy rows, there's nothing to do here.
 	$shared_tt_count = $wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy tt WHERE tt.term_id = %d AND tt.term_taxonomy_id != %d", $term_id, $term_taxonomy_id ) );
+
 	if ( ! $shared_tt_count ) {
 		return $term_id;
 	}
 
 	// Pull up data about the currently shared slug, which we'll use to populate the new one.
-	$shared_term = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT t.* FROM $wpdb->terms t WHERE t.term_id = %d", $term_id ) );
+	if ( empty( $shared_term ) ) {
+		$shared_term = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT t.* FROM $wpdb->terms t WHERE t.term_id = %d", $term_id ) );
+	}
 
 	$new_term_data = array(
 		'name' => $shared_term->name,
@@ -4234,9 +4254,11 @@ function _split_shared_term( $term_id, $term_taxonomy_id ) {
 	);
 
 	// Reassign child terms to the new parent.
-	$term_taxonomy = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE term_taxonomy_id = %d", $term_taxonomy_id ) );
-	$children_tt_ids = $wpdb->get_col( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT term_taxonomy_id FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE taxonomy = %s AND parent = %d", $term_taxonomy->taxonomy, $term_id ) );
+	if ( empty( $term_taxonomy ) ) {
+		$term_taxonomy = $wpdb->get_row( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE term_taxonomy_id = %d", $term_taxonomy_id ) );
+	}
 
+	$children_tt_ids = $wpdb->get_col( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT term_taxonomy_id FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy WHERE parent = %d AND taxonomy = %s", $term_id, $term_taxonomy->taxonomy ) );
 	if ( ! empty( $children_tt_ids ) ) {
 		foreach ( $children_tt_ids as $child_tt_id ) {
 			$wpdb->update( $wpdb->term_taxonomy,
@@ -4259,15 +4281,16 @@ function _split_shared_term( $term_id, $term_taxonomy_id ) {
 	}
 
 	// Keep a record of term_ids that have been split, keyed by old term_id. See {@see wp_get_split_term()}.
-	$split_term_data = get_option( '_split_terms', array() );
-	if ( ! isset( $split_term_data[ $term_id ] ) ) {
-		$split_term_data[ $term_id ] = array();
+	if ( $record ) {
+		$split_term_data = get_option( '_split_terms', array() );
+		if ( ! isset( $split_term_data[ $term_id ] ) ) {
+			$split_term_data[ $term_id ] = array();
+		}
+
+		$split_term_data[ $term_id ][ $term_taxonomy->taxonomy ] = $new_term_id;
+		update_option( '_split_terms', $split_term_data );
 	}
 
-	$split_term_data[ $term_id ][ $term_taxonomy->taxonomy ] = $new_term_id;
-
-	update_option( '_split_terms', $split_term_data );
-
 	/**
 	 * Fires after a previously shared taxonomy term is split into two separate terms.
 	 *