diff --git a/lisp/faces.el b/lisp/faces.el
index 1813f8f7365..794343e88a9 100644
--- a/lisp/faces.el
+++ b/lisp/faces.el
@@ -503,7 +503,8 @@ If INHERIT is t, and FACE doesn't define a foreground color, then any
   foreground color that FACE inherits through its `:inherit' attribute
   is considered as well; however the return value may still be nil.
 If INHERIT is a face or a list of faces, then it is used to try to
-  resolve an unspecified foreground color.
+  resolve an unspecified foreground color, in addition to using any
+inherited color.
 
 To ensure that a valid color is always returned, use a value of
 `default' for INHERIT; this will resolve any unspecified values by
@@ -523,7 +524,8 @@ If INHERIT is t, and FACE doesn't define a background color, then any
   background color that FACE inherits through its `:inherit' attribute
   is considered as well; however the return value may still be nil.
 If INHERIT is a face or a list of faces, then it is used to try to
-  resolve an unspecified background color.
+  resolve an unspecified background color, in addition to using any
+inherited color.
 
 To ensure that a valid color is always returned, use a value of
 `default' for INHERIT; this will resolve any unspecified values by