diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/ref-variables.xml b/documentation/ref-manual/ref-variables.xml
index bd1441196b..f05e9cb4f4 100644
--- a/documentation/ref-manual/ref-variables.xml
+++ b/documentation/ref-manual/ref-variables.xml
@@ -1140,8 +1140,8 @@
         <glossentry id='var-BUILDSDK_CPPFLAGS'><glossterm>BUILDSDK_CPPFLAGS</glossterm>
             <glossdef>
                 <para>
-                    Specifies the flags to pass to the C pre-processor and
-                    eventually to both the C and C++ compilers when building
+                    Specifies the flags to pass to the C pre-processor
+                    (i.e. to both the C and the C++ compilers) when building
                     for the SDK.
                     When building in the <filename>nativesdk</filename>
                     context,
@@ -1550,8 +1550,8 @@
         <glossentry id='var-CPPFLAGS'><glossterm>CPPFLAGS</glossterm>
             <glossdef>
                 <para>
-                    Specifies the flags to pass to the C pre-processor and the
-                    C compiler.
+                    Specifies the flags to pass to the C compiler and to the
+                    C pre-processor.
                     This variable is exported to an environment
                     variable and thus made visible to the software being
                     built during the compilation step.
@@ -7798,8 +7798,8 @@ recipes-graphics/xorg-font/font-alias_1.0.3.bb:PR = "${INC_PR}.3"
         <glossentry id='var-TARGET_CPPFLAGS'><glossterm>TARGET_CPPFLAGS</glossterm>
             <glossdef>
                 <para>
-                    Specifies the flags to pass to the C pre-processor and
-                    eventually to both the C and C++ compilers when building
+                    Specifies the flags to pass to the C pre-processor
+                    (i.e. to both the C and the C++ compilers) when building
                     for the target.
                     When building in the target context,
                     <link linkend='var-CPPFLAGS'><filename>CPPFLAGS</filename></link>