diff --git a/doc/public/tmpl/cairo-version.sgml b/doc/public/tmpl/cairo-version.sgml
index a06c56aee..87933c2d0 100644
--- a/doc/public/tmpl/cairo-version.sgml
+++ b/doc/public/tmpl/cairo-version.sgml
@@ -148,7 +148,8 @@ The micro component of the version of cairo available at compile-time.
 
 <!-- ##### MACRO CAIRO_VERSION_STRING ##### -->
 <para>
-
+The human-readable string containing the version of cairo available at
+compile-time, in the form of "X.Y.Z".
 </para>