diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
index 89c9618469..53079c4625 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/variables.rst
@@ -1812,6 +1812,18 @@ system and gives an overview of their function and contents.
       :term:`DESCRIPTION` takes the value of the :term:`SUMMARY`
       variable.
 
+   :term:`DISABLE_STATIC`
+      Used in order to disable static linking by default (in order to save
+      space, since static libraries are often unused in embedded systems.)
+      The default value is " --disable-static", however it can be set to ""
+      in order to enable static linking if desired. Certain recipes do this
+      individually, and also there is a
+      ``meta/conf/distro/include/no-static-libs.inc`` include file that
+      disables static linking for a number of recipes. Some software
+      packages or build tools (such as CMake) have explicit support for
+      enabling / disabling static linking, and in those cases
+      :term:`DISABLE_STATIC` is not used.
+
    :term:`DISTRO`
       The short name of the distribution. For information on the long name
       of the distribution, see the :term:`DISTRO_NAME`