diff --git a/quickshell/Common/I18n.qml b/quickshell/Common/I18n.qml
index 147ea4512..a6371b19c 100644
--- a/quickshell/Common/I18n.qml
+++ b/quickshell/Common/I18n.qml
@@ -189,6 +189,26 @@ Singleton {
         }
     }
 
+    readonly property var _termIndexes: new WeakMap()
+
+    function _termIndex(table) {
+        const cached = _termIndexes.get(table);
+        if (cached)
+            return cached;
+        const index = {};
+        for (const c in table) {
+            const bucket = table[c];
+            if (!bucket)
+                continue;
+            for (const term in bucket) {
+                if (!index[term] && bucket[term])
+                    index[term] = bucket[term];
+            }
+        }
+        _termIndexes.set(table, index);
+        return index;
+    }
+
     function _lookup(table, term, context) {
         if (!table)
             return "";
@@ -196,11 +216,7 @@ Singleton {
             return table[context][term];
         if (table[term] && table[term][term])
             return table[term][term];
-        for (const c in table) {
-            if (table[c] && table[c][term])
-                return table[c][term];
-        }
-        return "";
+        return _termIndex(table)[term] || "";
     }
 
     // isRealContext is consumed by translations/extract_translations.py only:
diff --git a/quickshell/Services/AppSearchService.qml b/quickshell/Services/AppSearchService.qml
index 6be85baff..eab7db777 100644
--- a/quickshell/Services/AppSearchService.qml
+++ b/quickshell/Services/AppSearchService.qml
@@ -769,11 +769,7 @@ Singleton {
         return results;
     }
 
-    function getCategoriesForApp(app) {
-        if (!app?.categories)
-            return [];
-
-        const categoryMap = {
+    readonly property var _categoryMap: ({
             "AudioVideo": I18n.tr("Media"),
             "Audio": I18n.tr("Media"),
             "Video": I18n.tr("Media"),
@@ -798,15 +794,20 @@ Singleton {
             "Accessories": I18n.tr("Utilities"),
             "FileManager": I18n.tr("Utilities"),
             "TerminalEmulator": I18n.tr("Utilities")
-        };
+        })
+
+    on_CategoryMapChanged: _cachedCategories = null
+
+    function getCategoriesForApp(app) {
+        if (!app?.categories)
+            return [];
 
         const mappedCategories = new Set();
-
         for (const cat of app.categories) {
-            if (categoryMap[cat])
-                mappedCategories.add(categoryMap[cat]);
+            const mapped = _categoryMap[cat];
+            if (mapped)
+                mappedCategories.add(mapped);
         }
-
         return Array.from(mappedCategories);
     }