diff --git a/man2/statx.2 b/man2/statx.2
index deb3e532d..c751cf864 100644
--- a/man2/statx.2
+++ b/man2/statx.2
@@ -118,38 +118,48 @@ and
 .IR flags
 identify the target file in one of the following ways:
 .TP
-[*] By absolute pathname.
+An absolute pathname
+If
 .I pathname
-points to an absolute pathname and
+begins with a slash,
+then it is an absolute pathname that identifies the target file.
+In this case,
 .I dirfd
 is ignored.
-The file is looked up by name, starting from the root of the
-filesystem as seen by the calling process.
 .TP
-[*] By cwd-relative pathname.
+A relative pathname
+If
 .I pathname
-points to a relative pathname and
+is a string that begins with a character other than a slash and
 .IR dirfd
 is
-.BR AT_FDCWD .
-The file is looked up by name, starting from the current working directory.
-.TP
-[*] By dir-relative pathname.
+.BR AT_FDCWD ,
+then
 .I pathname
-points to relative pathname and
+is a relative pathname that is interpreted relative to the process's
+current working directory.
+.TP
+A pathname interpreted relative to a directory file descriptor
+If
+.I pathname
+is a string that begins with a character other than a slash and
 .I dirfd
-is a file descriptor referring to a directory.
-The file is looked up by name, starting from the directory specified by
+is a file descriptor that refers to a directory, then
+.I pathname
+is a relative pathname that is interpreted relative to the directory
+referred to by
 .IR dirfd .
 .TP
-[*] By file descriptor.
+By file descriptor
+If
 .IR pathname
-is NULL and
-.I dirfd
-is a file descriptor.
-The file attached to the file descriptor is queried directly.
-The file descriptor may refer to any type of file, not just
-a directory.
+is NULL, then the target file is the one referred to by the file descriptor
+.IR dirfd .
+.I dirfd 
+may refer to any type of file, not just a directory.
+(The
+.B AT_EMPTY_PATH
+flag described below provides similar functionality.)
 .PP
 .I flags
 can be used to influence a pathname-based lookup.