diff --git a/lisp/startup.el b/lisp/startup.el
index 536289c3891..761e69e03b1 100644
--- a/lisp/startup.el
+++ b/lisp/startup.el
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ Warning Warning!!!  Pure space overflow    !!!Warning Warning
   :initialize #'custom-initialize-delay)
 
 (defun normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path ()
-  "Add all subdirectories of `default-directory' to `load-path'.
+  "Recursively add all subdirectories of `default-directory' to `load-path'.
 More precisely, this uses only the subdirectories whose names
 start with letters or digits; it excludes any subdirectory named `RCS'
 or `CVS', and any subdirectory that contains a file named `.nosearch'."