diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
index 168333a58..79824f481 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ the first namespace level.
 
 When <paths> are given, this command does *not* switch
 branches.  It updates the named paths in the working tree from
-the index file, or from a named commit.  In
+the index file, or from a named <tree-ish> (most often a commit).  In
 this case, the `-b` options is meaningless and giving
 either of them results in an error.  <tree-ish> argument can be
 used to specify a specific tree-ish (i.e. commit, tag or tree)