diff --git a/man3/getauxval.3 b/man3/getauxval.3
index 85d7f41a9..b912e1cff 100644
--- a/man3/getauxval.3
+++ b/man3/getauxval.3
@@ -101,12 +101,13 @@ performed by the kernel.
 The real group ID of the thread.
 .TP
 .BR AT_HWCAP
-A pointer to a multibyte mask of bits whose settings
+A four byte long bit-mask whose settings 
 indicate detailed processor capabilities.
 The contents of the bit mask are hardware dependent
 (for example, see the kernel source file
 .IR arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeature.h
-for details relating to the Intel x86 architecture).
+for details relating to the Intel x86 architecture; the value
+returned is the first 32 bit word of the array described there).
 A human-readable version of the same information is available via
 .IR /proc/cpuinfo .
 .TP