diff --git a/.words b/.words
index 561453ce956..7ca7100bdcb 100644
--- a/.words
+++ b/.words
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ErrCodeEnhanceYourCalm
 ErrTimeout
 GoAway
+KeepAlive
+Keepalive
 RPC
 RPCs
 TODO
diff --git a/clientv3/lease.go b/clientv3/lease.go
index d9059022094..229e8cd66ba 100644
--- a/clientv3/lease.go
+++ b/clientv3/lease.go
@@ -113,11 +113,29 @@ type Lease interface {
 	// Leases retrieves all leases.
 	Leases(ctx context.Context) (*LeaseLeasesResponse, error)
 
-	// KeepAlive keeps the given lease alive forever.
+	// KeepAlive keeps the given lease alive forever. If the keepalive response
+	// posted to the channel is not consumed immediately, the lease client will
+	// continue sending keep alive requests to the etcd server at least every
+	// second until latest response is consumed.
+	//
+	// The returned "LeaseKeepAliveResponse" channel closes if underlying keep
+	// alive stream is interrupted in some way the client cannot handle itself;
+	// given context "ctx" is canceled or timed out. "LeaseKeepAliveResponse"
+	// from this closed channel is nil.
+	//
+	// If client keep alive loop halts with an unexpected error (e.g. "etcdserver:
+	// no leader") or canceled by the caller (e.g. context.Canceled), the error
+	// is returned. Otherwise, it retries.
+	//
+	// TODO(v4.0): post errors to last keep alive message before closing
+	// (see https://github.com/coreos/etcd/pull/7866)
 	KeepAlive(ctx context.Context, id LeaseID) (<-chan *LeaseKeepAliveResponse, error)
 
-	// KeepAliveOnce renews the lease once. In most of the cases, KeepAlive
-	// should be used instead of KeepAliveOnce.
+	// KeepAliveOnce renews the lease once. The response corresponds to the
+	// first message from calling KeepAlive. If the response has a recoverable
+	// error, KeepAliveOnce will retry the RPC with a new keep alive message.
+	//
+	// In most of the cases, Keepalive should be used instead of KeepAliveOnce.
 	KeepAliveOnce(ctx context.Context, id LeaseID) (*LeaseKeepAliveResponse, error)
 
 	// Close releases all resources Lease keeps for efficient communication