diff --git a/pandas/_libs/lib.pxd b/pandas/_libs/lib.pxd
index 12aca9dabe2e7..b3c72c30a74de 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/lib.pxd
+++ b/pandas/_libs/lib.pxd
@@ -1 +1 @@
-cdef bint c_is_list_like(object, bint)
+cdef bint c_is_list_like(object, bint) except -1
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx b/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx
index 5256bdc988995..14efab735fa7d 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/lib.pyx
@@ -988,7 +988,7 @@ def is_list_like(obj: object, allow_sets: bool = True) -> bool:
     return c_is_list_like(obj, allow_sets)
 
 
-cdef inline bint c_is_list_like(object obj, bint allow_sets):
+cdef inline bint c_is_list_like(object obj, bint allow_sets) except -1:
     return (
         isinstance(obj, abc.Iterable)
         # we do not count strings/unicode/bytes as list-like
diff --git a/pandas/tests/dtypes/test_inference.py b/pandas/tests/dtypes/test_inference.py
index 8b20f9ada8ff7..4c4a5547247fc 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/dtypes/test_inference.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/dtypes/test_inference.py
@@ -123,6 +123,17 @@ def test_is_list_like_disallow_sets(maybe_list_like):
     assert inference.is_list_like(obj, allow_sets=False) == expected
 
 
+def test_is_list_like_recursion():
+    # GH 33721
+    # interpreter would crash with with SIGABRT
+    def foo():
+        inference.is_list_like([])
+        foo()
+
+    with pytest.raises(RecursionError):
+        foo()
+
+
 def test_is_sequence():
     is_seq = inference.is_sequence
     assert is_seq((1, 2))