diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
index 42859aec422..33460da7db7 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
@@ -2110,9 +2110,8 @@ SELECT sum(n) FROM t;
 
   <note>
    <para>
-    Strictly speaking, this process is iteration not recursion, but
-    <literal>RECURSIVE</literal> is the terminology chosen by the SQL standards
-    committee.
+    While <literal>RECURSIVE</literal> allows queries to be specified
+    recursively, internally all queries are evaluated iteratively.
    </para>
   </note>