diff --git a/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt b/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt
index b5284c3d33..0eea937c30 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-interpret-trailers.txt
@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@ OPTIONS
 
 --only-input::
 	Output only trailers that exist in the input; do not add any
-	from the command-line or by following configured `trailer.*`
-	rules.
+	from the command-line or by applying `trailer.*` configuration
+	variables.
 
 --unfold::
 	Remove any whitespace-continuation in trailers, so that each
diff --git a/builtin/interpret-trailers.c b/builtin/interpret-trailers.c
index 5f3e1a38ee..f70c5df8d4 100644
--- a/builtin/interpret-trailers.c
+++ b/builtin/interpret-trailers.c
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ int cmd_interpret_trailers(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			     N_("action if trailer is missing"), option_parse_if_missing),
 
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "only-trailers", &opts.only_trailers, N_("output only the trailers")),
-		OPT_BOOL(0, "only-input", &opts.only_input, N_("do not apply config rules")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "only-input", &opts.only_input, N_("do not apply trailer.* configuration variables")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "unfold", &opts.unfold, N_("join whitespace-continued values")),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "parse", &opts, NULL, N_("alias for --only-trailers --only-input --unfold"),
 			PARSE_OPT_NOARG | PARSE_OPT_NONEG, parse_opt_parse),