diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp
index fd6e64389a3..19494af26a5 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp
@@ -518,8 +518,8 @@ RuleBasedBreakIterator &RuleBasedBreakIterator::refreshInputText(UText *input, U
 
 
 /**
- * Sets the current iteration position to the beginning of the text.
- * @return The offset of the beginning of the text.
+ * Sets the current iteration position to the beginning of the text, position zero.
+ * @return The new iterator position, which is zero.
  */
 int32_t RuleBasedBreakIterator::first(void) {
     reset();
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/rbbi.h b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/rbbi.h
index 844420dd3a8..d47598a50e6 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/rbbi.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/rbbi.h
@@ -423,8 +423,8 @@ public:
     virtual void  setText(UText *text, UErrorCode &status);
 
     /**
-     * Sets the current iteration position to the beginning of the text.
-     * @return The offset of the beginning of the text.
+     * Sets the current iteration position to the beginning of the text, position zero.
+     * @return The offset of the beginning of the text, zero.
      *  @stable ICU 2.0
      */
     virtual int32_t first(void);
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h
index e9c0ef627b6..9bdb4d5d9de 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/ubrk.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
 ******************************************************************************
-* Copyright (C) 1996-2013, International Business Machines Corporation and others.
+* Copyright (C) 1996-2014, International Business Machines Corporation and others.
 * All Rights Reserved.
 ******************************************************************************
 */
@@ -378,10 +378,9 @@ U_STABLE int32_t U_EXPORT2
 ubrk_previous(UBreakIterator *bi);
 
 /**
- * Set the iterator position to the index of the first character in the text being scanned.
- * This is not always the same as index 0 of the text.
+ * Set the iterator position to zero, the start of the text being scanned.
  * @param bi The break iterator to use.
- * @return The character index of the first character in the text being scanned.
+ * @return The new iterator position (zero).
  * @see ubrk_last
  * @stable ICU 2.0
  */