diff --git a/man5/proc.5 b/man5/proc.5
index 89a7c09ad..7f8031adb 100644
--- a/man5/proc.5
+++ b/man5/proc.5
@@ -477,7 +477,9 @@ check; see
 .BR ptrace (2).
 .TP
 .I /proc/[pid]/environ
-This file contains the initial environment for the process.
+This file contains the initial environment that was set
+when the currently executing program was started via
+.BR execve (2).
 The entries are separated by null bytes (\(aq\\0\(aq),
 and there may be a null byte at the end.
 Thus, to print out the environment of process 1, you would do:
@@ -488,13 +490,17 @@ Thus, to print out the environment of process 1, you would do:
 .fi
 .in
 
-Once a process starts modifying its environment
+If, after an
+.BR execve (2),
+the process modifies its environment
 (e.g. by calling functions such as
 .BR putenv (3)
 or modifying the
 .BR environ (7)
 variable directly),
-this file will not be kept up to date.
+this file will
+.I not
+reflect those changes.
 
 Further, a process may change the memory this points to by calling
 .BR prctl (2)