diff --git a/src/core.ts b/src/core.ts
index b661f6490cf..6fa3ae0b828 100644
--- a/src/core.ts
+++ b/src/core.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import type { FakerConfig } from './config';
 import type { LocaleDefinition } from './definitions';
+import type { LocaleProxy } from './internal/locale-proxy';
+import { createLocaleProxy } from './internal/locale-proxy';
 import type { Randomizer } from './randomizer';
 import { mergeLocales } from './utils/merge-locales';
 import { generateMersenne53Randomizer } from './utils/mersenne';
@@ -13,7 +15,7 @@ export interface FakerCore {
    *
    * Always present, but it might be empty if the locale data is not available.
    */
-  readonly locale: LocaleDefinition;
+  readonly locale: LocaleProxy;
 
   /**
    * The randomizer used to generate random values.
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@ export interface FakerOptions {
    *
    * @default {}
    */
-  locale?: LocaleDefinition | LocaleDefinition[];
+  locale?: LocaleProxy | LocaleDefinition | LocaleDefinition[];
   /**
    * The randomizer used to generate random values.
    *
@@ -95,7 +97,9 @@ export function createFakerCore(options: FakerOptions = {}): FakerCore {
   }
 
   return {
-    locale: Array.isArray(locale) ? mergeLocales(locale) : locale,
+    locale: createLocaleProxy(
+      Array.isArray(locale) ? mergeLocales(locale) : locale
+    ),
     randomizer,
     config,
   };
diff --git a/src/faker.ts b/src/faker.ts
index 8bc4256357b..16a80384eee 100644
--- a/src/faker.ts
+++ b/src/faker.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import type { FakerOptions } from './core';
 import type { LocaleDefinition, MetadataDefinition } from './definitions';
 import { FakerError } from './errors/faker-error';
 import type { LocaleProxy } from './internal/locale-proxy';
-import { createLocaleProxy } from './internal/locale-proxy';
 import { AirlineModule } from './modules/airline';
 import { AnimalModule } from './modules/animal';
 import { BookModule } from './modules/book';
@@ -57,8 +56,6 @@ import { SimpleFaker } from './simple-faker';
  * customFaker.music.genre(); // throws Error as this data is not available in `es`
  */
 export class Faker extends SimpleFaker {
-  readonly definitions: LocaleProxy;
-
   readonly airline: AirlineModule = new AirlineModule(this);
   readonly animal: AnimalModule = new AnimalModule(this);
   readonly book: BookModule = new BookModule(this);
@@ -85,6 +82,10 @@ export class Faker extends SimpleFaker {
   readonly word: WordModule = new WordModule(this);
 
   get rawDefinitions(): LocaleDefinition {
+    return this.fakerCore.locale.raw;
+  }
+
+  get definitions(): LocaleProxy {
     return this.fakerCore.locale;
   }
 
@@ -136,8 +137,6 @@ export class Faker extends SimpleFaker {
         'The locale option must contain at least one locale definition.'
       );
     }
-
-    this.definitions = createLocaleProxy(this.fakerCore.locale);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -152,6 +151,6 @@ export class Faker extends SimpleFaker {
    * @since 8.1.0
    */
   getMetadata(): MetadataDefinition {
-    return this.fakerCore.locale.metadata ?? {};
+    return this.fakerCore.locale.raw.metadata ?? {};
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/internal/locale-proxy.ts b/src/internal/locale-proxy.ts
index 3e77a93a4cd..88e6557b22a 100644
--- a/src/internal/locale-proxy.ts
+++ b/src/internal/locale-proxy.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,28 @@
 import type { LocaleDefinition } from '../definitions';
 import { FakerError } from '../errors/faker-error';
 
+const LOCALE_PROXY_TAG = Symbol('FakerLocaleProxy');
+
 /**
  * A proxy for LocaleDefinition that marks all properties as required and throws an error when an entry is accessed that is not defined.
  */
-export type LocaleProxy = Readonly<{
-  [key in keyof LocaleDefinition]-?: LocaleProxyCategory<LocaleDefinition[key]>;
-}>;
+export type LocaleProxy = Readonly<
+  {
+    [key in keyof LocaleDefinition]-?: LocaleProxyCategory<
+      LocaleDefinition[key]
+    >;
+  } & {
+    /**
+     * The raw locale definition used to create this proxy.
+     * This can be useful to check if a category/entry exists without triggering the proxy's error.
+     */
+    raw: LocaleDefinition;
+    /**
+     * Marker to identify a `LocaleProxy`.
+     */
+    [LOCALE_PROXY_TAG]: true;
+  }
+>;
 
 type LocaleProxyCategory<T> = Readonly<{
   [key in keyof T]-?: LocaleProxyEntry<T[key]>;
@@ -18,13 +34,35 @@ const throwReadOnlyError: () => never = () => {
   throw new FakerError('You cannot edit the locale data on the faker instance');
 };
 
+/**
+ * Checks if the given value is a LocaleProxy.
+ *
+ * @param value The value to check.
+ *
+ * @returns  True if the value is a LocaleProxy, false otherwise.
+ */
+function isLocaleProxy(value: unknown): value is LocaleProxy {
+  return (
+    value != null &&
+    typeof value === 'object' &&
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+    (value as any)?.[LOCALE_PROXY_TAG] === true
+  );
+}
+
 /**
  * Creates a proxy for LocaleDefinition that throws an error if an undefined property is accessed.
  *
  * @param locale The locale definition to create the proxy for.
  */
-export function createLocaleProxy(locale: LocaleDefinition): LocaleProxy {
-  const proxies = {} as LocaleDefinition;
+export function createLocaleProxy(
+  locale: LocaleDefinition | LocaleProxy
+): LocaleProxy {
+  if (isLocaleProxy(locale)) {
+    return locale;
+  }
+
+  const proxies = { raw: locale } as LocaleDefinition;
   return new Proxy(locale, {
     has(): true {
       // Categories are always present (proxied), that's why we return true.
@@ -33,17 +71,21 @@ export function createLocaleProxy(locale: LocaleDefinition): LocaleProxy {
 
     get(
       target: LocaleDefinition,
-      categoryName: keyof LocaleDefinition
-    ): LocaleDefinition[keyof LocaleDefinition] {
-      if (typeof categoryName === 'symbol' || categoryName === 'nodeType') {
+      categoryName: keyof LocaleProxy
+    ): LocaleProxy[keyof LocaleProxy] {
+      if (typeof categoryName === 'symbol') {
+        if (categoryName === LOCALE_PROXY_TAG) {
+          return true;
+        }
+
         return target[categoryName];
       }
 
-      if (categoryName in proxies) {
-        return proxies[categoryName];
+      if (categoryName === 'nodeType') {
+        return target[categoryName];
       }
 
-      return (proxies[categoryName] = createCategoryProxy(
+      return (proxies[categoryName] ??= createCategoryProxy(
         categoryName,
         target[categoryName]
       ));
@@ -51,7 +93,7 @@ export function createLocaleProxy(locale: LocaleDefinition): LocaleProxy {
 
     set: throwReadOnlyError,
     deleteProperty: throwReadOnlyError,
-  }) as LocaleProxy;
+  }) as unknown as LocaleProxy;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/modules/helpers/eval.ts b/src/modules/helpers/eval.ts
index bf3a07cdbd0..1167639cde9 100644
--- a/src/modules/helpers/eval.ts
+++ b/src/modules/helpers/eval.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ const REGEX_DOT_OR_BRACKET = /\.|\(/;
 export function fakeEval(
   expression: string,
   faker: Faker,
-  entrypoints: ReadonlyArray<unknown> = [faker, faker.fakerCore.locale]
+  entrypoints: ReadonlyArray<unknown> = [faker, faker.definitions.raw]
 ): unknown {
   if (expression.length === 0) {
     throw new FakerError('Eval expression cannot be empty.');
diff --git a/src/modules/person/index.ts b/src/modules/person/index.ts
index 0b905632d1d..ef5b0274bbc 100644
--- a/src/modules/person/index.ts
+++ b/src/modules/person/index.ts
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ export class PersonModule extends ModuleBase {
    * @since 8.0.0
    */
   lastName(sex?: SexType): string {
-    const patterns = this.faker.fakerCore.locale.person?.last_name_pattern;
+    const patterns = this.faker.definitions.raw.person?.last_name_pattern;
     if (patterns != null) {
       const pattern = this.faker.helpers.weightedArrayElement(
         selectDefinition(this.faker, sex, patterns)
diff --git a/test/core.spec.ts b/test/core.spec.ts
index d6bc607f634..943c1ebefd2 100644
--- a/test/core.spec.ts
+++ b/test/core.spec.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 import type { FakerConfig } from '../src/config';
 import { createFakerCore } from '../src/core';
 import type { LocaleDefinition } from '../src/definitions/definitions';
+import { createLocaleProxy } from '../src/internal/locale-proxy';
 import type { Randomizer } from '../src/randomizer';
 import { generateMersenne53Randomizer } from '../src/utils/mersenne';
 
@@ -45,6 +46,16 @@ describe('createFakerCore', () => {
 
       expect(actual.locale).toEqual({ ...locale1, ...locale2 });
     });
+
+    it('should handle LocaleProxy', () => {
+      const locale: LocaleDefinition = { test1: { test: 'test1' } };
+      const proxy = createLocaleProxy(locale);
+      const actual = createFakerCore({ locale: proxy });
+
+      expect(actual.locale).toBe(proxy);
+      expect(actual.locale).toEqual(locale);
+      expect(actual.locale.raw).toBe(locale);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('randomizer', () => {
diff --git a/test/internal/locale-proxy.spec.ts b/test/internal/locale-proxy.spec.ts
index d13b04dd3ad..c93d1ec9101 100644
--- a/test/internal/locale-proxy.spec.ts
+++ b/test/internal/locale-proxy.spec.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,20 @@ describe('LocaleProxy', () => {
     it('should be possible to use not equals on locale', () => {
       expect(locale).not.toEqual(createLocaleProxy({}));
     });
+
+    it('should be possible to pass a LocaleProxy to createLocaleProxy', () => {
+      const proxy = createLocaleProxy(locale);
+
+      expect(proxy).toBe(locale);
+    });
+
+    it('should be possible to access raw without throwing', () => {
+      expect(locale.raw.missing?.missing).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    it('should expose the original locale definition via raw', () => {
+      expect(locale.raw).toBe(en);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('category', () => {