diff --git a/docs/ref/models/fields.txt b/docs/ref/models/fields.txt
index 07e86785d9..5b65c1e1ae 100644
--- a/docs/ref/models/fields.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/models/fields.txt
@@ -2018,6 +2018,34 @@ that control how the relationship functions.
         prefer Django not to create a backwards relation, set ``related_name``
         to ``'+'``.
 
+    .. admonition:: Order of foreign keys to source models in intermediary models
+
+        When defining an asymmetric many-to-many relationship from a model to
+        itself using an intermediary model, the first foreign key in the
+        intermediary model will be treated as representing the source side of
+        the ``ManyToManyField``, and the second as the target side. For
+        example::
+
+            from django.db import models
+
+
+            class Manufacturer(models.Model):
+                name = models.CharField(max_length=255)
+                clients = models.ManyToManyField(
+                    "self", symmetrical=False, related_name="suppliers"
+                )
+
+
+            class Supply(models.Model):
+                supplier = models.ForeignKey(Manufacturer, models.CASCADE)
+                client = models.ForeignKey(Manufacturer, models.CASCADE)
+                product = models.CharField(max_length=255)
+
+        Here, the ``Manufacturer`` model in its role as a supplier defines
+        the many-to-many relationship with ``clients``, so the ``supplier``
+        foreign key must come before the ``clients`` foreign key in the
+        intermediary ``Supply`` model.
+
     If you don't specify an explicit ``through`` model, there is still an
     implicit ``through`` model class you can use to directly access the table
     created to hold the association. It has three fields to link the models.
diff --git a/docs/topics/db/models.txt b/docs/topics/db/models.txt
index f7f575eb3f..5414d92e78 100644
--- a/docs/topics/db/models.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/db/models.txt
@@ -518,12 +518,13 @@ There are a few restrictions on the intermediate model:
   to the foreign key to the target model (this would be ``Person`` in our
   example).
 
-* For a model which has a many-to-many relationship to itself through an
-  intermediary model, two foreign keys to the same model are permitted, but
-  they will be treated as the two (different) sides of the many-to-many
-  relationship. If there are *more* than two foreign keys though, you
-  must also specify ``through_fields`` as above, or a validation error
-  will be raised.
+* For a model that has a many-to-many relationship to itself through an
+  intermediary model, two foreign keys to the same model are allowed, but they
+  will be treated as the two different sides of the many-to-many relationship.
+  The first foreign key in the intermediary model will be taken to represent
+  the source side of the ``ManyToManyField``, while the second will be taken to
+  represent the target side. If more than two foreign keys are defined, you
+  must specify ``through_fields``, or a validation error will occur.
 
 Now that you have set up your :class:`~django.db.models.ManyToManyField` to use
 your intermediary model (``Membership``, in this case), you're ready to start