diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index adbf9eb42..57bf37485 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ set_option(SDL_DIRECTFB            "Use DirectFB video driver" OFF)
 dep_option(SDL_DIRECTFB_SHARED     "Dynamically load directfb support" ON "SDL_DIRECTFB" OFF)
 set_option(SDL_DUMMYVIDEO          "Use dummy video driver" ON)
 dep_option(SDL_IBUS                "Enable IBus support" ON ${UNIX_SYS} OFF)
-set_option(SDL_ICONV               "Support character set conversion through libiconv" ON)
+set_option(SDL_ICONV               "Use iconv() from system-installed libraries" ON)
 set_option(SDL_OPENGL              "Include OpenGL support" ON)
 set_option(SDL_OPENGLES            "Include OpenGL ES support" ON)
 set_option(SDL_PTHREADS            "Use POSIX threads for multi-threading" ${SDL_PTHREADS_ENABLED_BY_DEFAULT})
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 3e0cadf0a..3eba8ebeb 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1632,7 +1632,7 @@ Optional Features:
   --enable-dependency-tracking
                           Use gcc -MMD -MT dependency tracking [default=yes]
   --enable-libc           Use the system C library [default=yes]
-  --enable-iconv          Enable character set conversion through iconv
+  --enable-iconv          Use iconv() from system-installed libraries
                           [default=yes]
   --enable-gcc-atomics    Use gcc builtin atomics [default=yes]
   --enable-atomic         Enable the atomic operations subsystem [default=yes]
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6cd98df04..c8921aad6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(libc,
 
 dnl See whether we are allowed to use libiconv
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(iconv,
-[AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-iconv], [Enable character set conversion through iconv [default=yes]])],
+[AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-iconv], [Use iconv() from system-installed libraries [default=yes]])],
               , enable_iconv=yes)
 
 if test x$enable_libc = xyes; then