diff --git a/src/doc/reference.md b/src/doc/reference.md
index fcf9aefaba847..397abfe563c1f 100644
--- a/src/doc/reference.md
+++ b/src/doc/reference.md
@@ -2063,33 +2063,41 @@ arbitrarily complex configurations through nesting.
 
 The following configurations must be defined by the implementation:
 
-* `debug_assertions` - Enabled by default when compiling without optimizations.
-  This can be used to enable extra debugging code in development but not in
-  production.  For example, it controls the behavior of the standard library's
-  `debug_assert!` macro.
-* `target_arch = "..."` - Target CPU architecture, such as `"x86"`, `"x86_64"`
-  `"mips"`, `"powerpc"`, `"powerpc64"`, `"arm"`, or `"aarch64"`.
-* `target_endian = "..."` - Endianness of the target CPU, either `"little"` or
-  `"big"`.
-* `target_env = ".."` - An option provided by the compiler by default
-  describing the runtime environment of the target platform. Some examples of
-  this are `musl` for builds targeting the MUSL libc implementation, `msvc` for
-  Windows builds targeting MSVC, and `gnu` frequently the rest of the time. This
-  option may also be blank on some platforms.
+* `target_arch = "..."` - Target CPU architecture, such as `"x86"`,
+  `"x86_64"` `"mips"`, `"powerpc"`, `"powerpc64"`, `"arm"`, or
+  `"aarch64"`. This value is closely related to the first element of
+  the platform target triple, though it is not identical.
+* `target_os = "..."` - Operating system of the target, examples
+  include `"windows"`, `"macos"`, `"ios"`, `"linux"`, `"android"`,
+  `"freebsd"`, `"dragonfly"`, `"bitrig"` , `"openbsd"` or
+  `"netbsd"`. This value is closely related to the second and third
+  element of the platform target triple, though it is not identical.
 * `target_family = "..."` - Operating system family of the target, e. g.
   `"unix"` or `"windows"`. The value of this configuration option is defined
   as a configuration itself, like `unix` or `windows`.
-* `target_os = "..."` - Operating system of the target, examples include
-  `"windows"`, `"macos"`, `"ios"`, `"linux"`, `"android"`, `"freebsd"`, `"dragonfly"`,
-  `"bitrig"` , `"openbsd"` or `"netbsd"`.
+* `unix` - See `target_family`.
+* `windows` - See `target_family`.
+* `target_env = ".."` - Further disambiguates the target platform with
+  information about the ABI/libc. Presently this value is either
+  `"gnu"`, `"msvc"`, `"musl"`, or the empty string. For historical
+  reasons this value has only been defined as non-empty when needed
+  for disambiguation. Thus on many GNU platforms this value will be
+  empty. This value is closely related to the fourth element of the
+  platform target triple, though it is not identical. For example,
+  embedded ABIs such as `gnueabihf` will simply define `target_env` as
+  `"gnu"`.
+* `target_endian = "..."` - Endianness of the target CPU, either `"little"` or
+  `"big"`.
 * `target_pointer_width = "..."` - Target pointer width in bits. This is set
   to `"32"` for targets with 32-bit pointers, and likewise set to `"64"` for
   64-bit pointers.
 * `target_vendor = "..."` - Vendor of the target, for example `apple`, `pc`, or
   simply `"unknown"`.
 * `test` - Enabled when compiling the test harness (using the `--test` flag).
-* `unix` - See `target_family`.
-* `windows` - See `target_family`.
+* `debug_assertions` - Enabled by default when compiling without optimizations.
+  This can be used to enable extra debugging code in development but not in
+  production.  For example, it controls the behavior of the standard library's
+  `debug_assert!` macro.
 
 You can also set another attribute based on a `cfg` variable with `cfg_attr`: