diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 7e6cd15b1e..414532d09f 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -6165,7 +6165,7 @@ struct option *add_diff_options(const struct option *opts,
 			       N_("continue listing the history of a file beyond renames"),
 			       PARSE_OPT_NOARG, diff_opt_follow),
 		OPT_INTEGER('l', NULL, &options->rename_limit,
-			    N_("prevent rename/copy detection if the number of rename/copy targets exceeds given limit")),
+			    N_("limit to cheap rename/copy detection if the number of rename/copy targets exceeds this value")),
 
 		OPT_GROUP(N_("Diff algorithm options")),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "minimal", options, NULL,