diff --git a/doc_src/cmds/abbr.rst b/doc_src/cmds/abbr.rst
index 7218263cf..af497760c 100644
--- a/doc_src/cmds/abbr.rst
+++ b/doc_src/cmds/abbr.rst
@@ -36,6 +36,19 @@ Combining these features, it is possible to create custom syntaxes, where a regu
    Previous versions of this allowed saving abbreviations in universal variables.
    That's no longer possible. Existing variables will still be imported and ``abbr --erase`` will also erase the variables.
    We recommend adding abbreviations to :ref:`config.fish <configuration>` by just adding the ``abbr --add`` command.
+   When you run ``abbr``, you will see output like this
+
+   ::
+
+     > abbr
+     abbr -a -- foo bar # imported from a universal variable, see `help abbr`
+
+   In that case you should take the part before the ``#`` comment and save it in :ref:`config.fish <configuration>`,
+   then you can run ``abbr --erase`` to remove the universal variable::
+
+     > abbr >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish
+     > abbr --erase (abbr --list)
+   
 
 "add" subcommand
 --------------------
diff --git a/src/builtins/abbr.cpp b/src/builtins/abbr.cpp
index 026557ce8..7e202712e 100644
--- a/src/builtins/abbr.cpp
+++ b/src/builtins/abbr.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,6 @@ static int abbr_show(const abbr_options_t &, io_streams_t &streams) {
     for (const auto &abbr : abbrs->list()) {
         comps.clear();
         comps.push_back(L"abbr -a");
-        if (abbr.from_universal) comps.push_back(L"-U");
         if (abbr.is_regex()) {
             comps.push_back(L"--regex");
             comps.push_back(escape_string(abbr.key));
@@ -122,6 +121,7 @@ static int abbr_show(const abbr_options_t &, io_streams_t &streams) {
         if (!abbr.replacement_is_function) {
             comps.push_back(escape_string(abbr.replacement));
         }
+        if (abbr.from_universal) comps.push_back(_(L"# imported from a universal variable, see `help abbr`"));
         wcstring result = join_strings(comps, L' ');
         result.push_back(L'\n');
         streams.out.append(result);
diff --git a/tests/checks/abbr.fish b/tests/checks/abbr.fish
index 17c549e9d..219afd6c8 100644
--- a/tests/checks/abbr.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/abbr.fish
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 set -U _fish_abbr_cuckoo somevalue
 set fish (status fish-path)
 $fish -c abbr
-# CHECK: abbr -a -U -- cuckoo somevalue
+# CHECK: abbr -a -- cuckoo somevalue # imported from a universal variable, see `help abbr`
 
 # Test basic add and list of __abbr1
 abbr __abbr1 alpha beta gamma