diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitCBase.td b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitCBase.td
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitCBase.td
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitCBase.td
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@
   let useDefaultTypePrinterParser = 1;
   let useDefaultAttributePrinterParser = 1;
   let useFoldAPI = kEmitFoldAdaptorFolder;
+  let hasOperationAttrVerify = 1;
+  let extraClassDeclaration = [{
+    /// Get the name of the attribute used for emitc function attributes.
+    static StringRef getFuncAttrName() { return "emitc.func_attr"; }
+  }];
 }
 
 #endif // MLIR_DIALECT_EMITC_IR_EMITCBASE
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitC.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitC.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitC.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/EmitC/IR/EmitC.cpp
@@ -44,6 +44,20 @@
   return builder.create<emitc::ConstantOp>(loc, type, value);
 }
 
+LogicalResult EmitCDialect::verifyOperationAttribute(Operation *op,
+                                                     NamedAttribute attr) {
+  if (attr.getName() == getFuncAttrName()) {
+    auto arrayAttr = dyn_cast<ArrayAttr>(attr.getValue());
+    if (!arrayAttr || !llvm::all_of(arrayAttr, [](Attribute attr) {
+          return attr.isa<StringAttr>();
+        }))
+      return op->emitError() << "attribute '" << attr.getName()
+                             << "' must be an array of strings";
+  }
+  // Pass through other attributes
+  return success();
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // ApplyOp
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp b/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp
@@ -603,6 +603,16 @@
 
   CppEmitter::Scope scope(emitter);
   raw_indented_ostream &os = emitter.ostream();
+  // Emit any function attributes if the (discardable) emitc attribute is
+  // present.
+  if (auto func_attr = functionOp->getAttrOfType<ArrayAttr>(
+          EmitCDialect::getFuncAttrName())) {
+    for (auto &attr : func_attr) {
+      if (auto stringAttr = attr.dyn_cast<StringAttr>())
+        os << stringAttr.getValue() << "\n";
+    }
+  }
+
   if (failed(emitter.emitTypes(functionOp.getLoc(),
                                functionOp.getFunctionType().getResults())))
     return failure();
diff --git a/mlir/test/Target/Cpp/common-cpp.mlir b/mlir/test/Target/Cpp/common-cpp.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Target/Cpp/common-cpp.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Target/Cpp/common-cpp.mlir
@@ -82,8 +82,13 @@
   return %2 : !emitc.opaque<"status_t">
 }
 
-func.func @apply(%arg0: i32) -> !emitc.ptr<i32> {
-  // CHECK: int32_t* [[V2]] = &[[V1]];
+// Note: FileCheck will interpret [[nodiscard]] as a variable, so we use
+// __attribute__ below.
+// CHECK: static
+// CHECK: __attribute__((warn_unused_result))
+// CHECK: int32_t* apply(int32_t [[V1:[^ ]*]]) {
+func.func @apply(%arg0: i32) -> !emitc.ptr<i32> attributes {emitc.func_attr = ["static", "__attribute__((warn_unused_result))"]} {
+  // CHECK: int32_t* [[V2:[^ ]*]] = &[[V1]];
   %0 = emitc.apply "&"(%arg0) : (i32) -> !emitc.ptr<i32>
   // CHECK: int32_t [[V3]] = *[[V2]];
   %1 = emitc.apply "*"(%0) : (!emitc.ptr<i32>) -> (i32)