diff --git a/mercurial/help/hgignore.txt b/mercurial/help/hgignore.txt
--- a/mercurial/help/hgignore.txt
+++ b/mercurial/help/hgignore.txt
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ the form ``*.c`` will match a file endin
 and a regexp pattern of the form ``\.c$`` will do the same. To root a
 regexp pattern, start it with ``^``.
 
+.. note::
+  Patterns specified in other than ``.hgignore`` are always rooted.
+  Please see :hg:`help patterns` for details.
+
 Example
 -------
 
diff --git a/mercurial/help/patterns.txt b/mercurial/help/patterns.txt
--- a/mercurial/help/patterns.txt
+++ b/mercurial/help/patterns.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ patterns.
 
 Alternate pattern notations must be specified explicitly.
 
+.. note::
+  Patterns specified in ``.hgignore`` are not rooted. Please see
+  :hg:`help hgignore` for details.
+
 To use a plain path name without any pattern matching, start it with
 ``path:``. These path names must completely match starting at the
 current repository root.