diff --git a/mesonbuild/build.py b/mesonbuild/build.py
index 0a8ca45f5..763788539 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/build.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/build.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from .mesonlib import (
     extract_as_list, typeslistify, stringlistify, classify_unity_sources,
     get_filenames_templates_dict, substitute_values, has_path_sep,
 )
-from .compilers import Compiler, is_object, clink_langs, sort_clink, lang_suffixes
+from .compilers import Compiler, is_object, clink_langs, sort_clink, lang_suffixes, is_known_suffix
 from .linkers import StaticLinker
 from .interpreterbase import FeatureNew
 
@@ -652,14 +652,24 @@ class BuildTarget(Target):
                     sources.append(s)
         if sources:
             # For each source, try to add one compiler that can compile it.
-            # It's ok if no compilers can do so, because users are expected to
-            # be able to add arbitrary non-source files to the sources list.
+            #
+            # If it has a suffix that belongs to a known language, we must have
+            # a compiler for that language.
+            #
+            # Otherwise, it's ok if no compilers can compile it, because users
+            # are expected to be able to add arbitrary non-source files to the
+            # sources list
             for s in sources:
                 for lang, compiler in compilers.items():
                     if compiler.can_compile(s):
                         if lang not in self.compilers:
                             self.compilers[lang] = compiler
                         break
+                else:
+                    if is_known_suffix(s):
+                        raise MesonException('No {} machine compiler for "{}"'.
+                                             format(self.for_machine.get_lower_case_name(), s))
+
             # Re-sort according to clink_langs
             self.compilers = OrderedDict(sorted(self.compilers.items(),
                                                 key=lambda t: sort_clink(t[0])))
diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/__init__.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/__init__.py
index b378a63e7..a4e39432a 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/__init__.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/__init__.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ __all__ = [
     'is_llvm_ir',
     'is_object',
     'is_source',
+    'is_known_suffix',
     'lang_suffixes',
     'sort_clink',
 
@@ -115,6 +116,7 @@ from .compilers import (
     is_llvm_ir,
     is_object,
     is_library,
+    is_known_suffix,
     lang_suffixes,
     sort_clink,
     CompilerArgs,
diff --git a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
index e8e72cfaf..0df6aea98 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 import contextlib, os.path, re, tempfile
 import collections.abc
+import itertools
 import typing as T
 
 from ..linkers import StaticLinker, GnuLikeDynamicLinkerMixin, SolarisDynamicLinker
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ clink_suffixes = ()
 for _l in clink_langs + ('vala',):
     clink_suffixes += lang_suffixes[_l]
 clink_suffixes += ('h', 'll', 's')
+all_suffixes = set(itertools.chain(*lang_suffixes.values(), clink_suffixes))
 
 # Languages that should use LDFLAGS arguments when linking.
 languages_using_ldflags = ('objcpp', 'cpp', 'objc', 'c', 'fortran', 'd', 'cuda')
@@ -144,6 +146,13 @@ def is_library(fname):
     suffix = fname.split('.')[-1]
     return suffix in lib_suffixes
 
+def is_known_suffix(fname):
+    if hasattr(fname, 'fname'):
+        fname = fname.fname
+    suffix = fname.split('.')[-1]
+
+    return suffix in all_suffixes
+
 cuda_buildtype_args = {'plain': [],
                        'debug': [],
                        'debugoptimized': [],