diff --git a/src/hb-face.cc b/src/hb-face.cc
index a403f086f..e35aa1caf 100644
--- a/src/hb-face.cc
+++ b/src/hb-face.cc
@@ -349,7 +349,8 @@ static struct supported_face_loaders_t {
  * @loader_name: (nullable): The name of the loader to use, or `NULL`
  *
  * A thin wrapper around the face loader functions registered with HarfBuzz.
- * If @loader_name is `NULL`, the first available loader is used.
+ * If @loader_name is `NULL` or the empty string, the first available loader
+ * is used.
  *
  * For example, the FreeType ("ft") loader might be able to load
  * .woff and .woff2 files if FreeType is built with those features,
diff --git a/src/hb-font.cc b/src/hb-font.cc
index 526c96bbb..79655e29a 100644
--- a/src/hb-font.cc
+++ b/src/hb-font.cc
@@ -2329,7 +2329,7 @@ static struct supported_font_funcs_t {
  * Sets the font-functions structure to use for a font, based on the
  * specified name.
  *
- * If @name is `NULL` or empty string, the default (first) functioning font-functions
+ * If @name is `NULL` or the empty string, the default (first) functioning font-functions
  * are used.  This default can be changed by setting the `HB_FONT_FUNCS` environment
  * variable to the name of the desired font-functions.
  *