diff --git a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
index 8be432d465b..c683d9991eb 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
@@ -1956,7 +1956,7 @@ namespace returned by ``__prepare__`` is passed in to ``__new__``, but when
 the final class object is created the namespace is copied into a new ``dict``.
 
 If the metaclass has no ``__prepare__`` attribute, then the class namespace
-is initialised as an empty :func:`dict`.
+is initialised as an empty ordered mapping.
 
 .. seealso::
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2020-02-27-17-35-27.bpo-17422.eS1hVh.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2020-02-27-17-35-27.bpo-17422.eS1hVh.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bbec5ec0eee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2020-02-27-17-35-27.bpo-17422.eS1hVh.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+The language reference no longer restricts default class namespaces to dicts
+only.