diff --git a/docs/reference/gtk/building.sgml b/docs/reference/gtk/building.sgml
index 51e5d8e8f5..32ad404eee 100644
--- a/docs/reference/gtk/building.sgml
+++ b/docs/reference/gtk/building.sgml
@@ -384,6 +384,10 @@ How to compile GTK+ itself
             <arg choice="plain">-Denable-mir-backend=true</arg>
             <arg choice="plain">-Denable-mir-backend=false</arg>
           </group>
+          <group>
+            <arg choice="plain">-Dintrospection=true</arg>
+            <arg choice="plain">-Dintrospection=false</arg>
+          </group>
         </cmdsynopsis>
       </para>
 
@@ -480,6 +484,17 @@ How to compile GTK+ itself
         </para>
       </formalpara>
 
+      <formalpara>
+        <title><systemitem>introspection</systemitem></title>
+
+        <para>
+          Allows to disable building introspection support. This is option
+          is mainly useful for shortening turnaround times on developer
+          systems. Installed builds of GTK+ should always have introspection
+          support.
+        </para>
+      </formalpara>
+
       <formalpara>
         <title><systemitem>build-tests</systemitem>
           <systemitem>demos</systemitem></title>
diff --git a/gtk/meson.build b/gtk/meson.build
index 121839d3a9..5c31538e9a 100644
--- a/gtk/meson.build
+++ b/gtk/meson.build
@@ -920,7 +920,7 @@ libgtk_dep = declare_dependency(sources: [gtkversion, gtktypebuiltins_h],
                                 link_args: common_ldflags)
 
 # Introspection
-build_gir = get_option('enable-gir')
+build_gir = get_option('introspection')
 if build_gir
   gir_args = [
     '--quiet',
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index f3b587a212..0377d52b1d 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ option('enable-documentation', type: 'boolean', value: 'false',
   description : 'Build API reference and tools documentation')
 option('enable-man-pages', type: 'boolean', value: 'false',
   description : 'Build man pages for installed tools')
-option('enable-gir', type: 'boolean', value: 'true',
+option('introspection', type: 'boolean', value: 'true',
   description : 'Build introspection data (requires gobject-introspection)')
 option('demos', type: 'boolean', value: 'true',
   description : 'Build demos and example programs')