diff --git a/c-api/include/lol_html.h b/c-api/include/lol_html.h
index 27e37931..a259fc0c 100644
--- a/c-api/include/lol_html.h
+++ b/c-api/include/lol_html.h
@@ -523,7 +523,15 @@ int lol_html_element_tag_name_set(
     size_t name_len
 );
 
-// Whether the element is explicitly self-closing, e.g. `<foo />`.
+// Whether the tag syntactically ends with `/>`. In HTML content this is purely a decorative, unnecessary, and has no effect of any kind.
+//
+// The `/>` syntax only affects parsing of elements in foreign content (SVG and MathML).
+// It will never close any HTML tags that aren't already defined as void in HTML.
+//
+// This function only reports the parsed syntax, and will not report which elements are actually void in HTML.
+// Use `lol_html_element_can_have_content` to check if the element is non-void.
+//
+// If the `/` is part of an unquoted attribute, it's not parsed as the self-closing syntax.
 bool lol_html_element_is_self_closing(
     lol_html_element_t *element
 );
diff --git a/src/rewritable_units/element.rs b/src/rewritable_units/element.rs
index 562d86a6..b3e13cf8 100644
--- a/src/rewritable_units/element.rs
+++ b/src/rewritable_units/element.rs
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@ impl<'r, 't, H: HandlerTypes> Element<'r, 't, H> {
     }
 
     /// Sets the tag name of the element.
+    ///
+    /// The new tag name must be in the same namespace, have the same content model, and be valid in its location.
+    /// Otherwise change of the tag name may cause the resulting document to be parsed in an unexpected way,
+    /// out of sync with this library.
     #[inline]
     pub fn set_tag_name(&mut self, name: &str) -> Result<(), TagNameError> {
         let name = self.tag_name_bytes_from_str(name)?;
@@ -134,16 +138,31 @@ impl<'r, 't, H: HandlerTypes> Element<'r, 't, H> {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    /// Whether the element is explicitly self-closing, e.g. `<foo />`.
+    /// Whether the tag syntactically ends with `/>`. In HTML content this is purely a decorative, unnecessary, and has no effect of any kind.
+    ///
+    /// The `/>` syntax only affects parsing of elements in foreign content (SVG and MathML).
+    /// It will never close any HTML tags that aren't already defined as [void][spec] in HTML.
+    ///
+    /// This function only reports the parsed syntax, and will not report which elements are actually void in HTML.
+    /// Use [`can_have_content()`][Self::can_have_content] to check if the element is non-void.
+    ///
+    /// [spec]: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/syntax.html#start-tags
+    ///
+    /// If the `/` is part of an unquoted attribute, it's not parsed as the self-closing syntax.
     #[inline]
     #[must_use]
     pub fn is_self_closing(&self) -> bool {
         self.start_tag.self_closing()
     }
 
-    /// Whether the element can have inner content.  Returns `true` unless the element is an [HTML void
-    /// element](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/syntax.html#void-elements) or has a
-    /// self-closing tag (eg, `<foo />`).
+    /// Whether the element can have inner content.
+    ///
+    /// Returns `true` if the element isn't a [void element in HTML][void],
+    /// or is in **foreign content** and doesn't have a self-closing tag (eg, `<svg />`).
+    ///
+    /// [void]: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/syntax.html#void-elements
+    ///
+    /// Note that the self-closing syntax has no effect in HTML content.
     #[inline]
     #[must_use]
     pub fn can_have_content(&self) -> bool {
@@ -351,6 +370,7 @@ impl<'r, 't, H: HandlerTypes> Element<'r, 't, H> {
 
     fn prepend_chunk(&mut self, chunk: StringChunk) {
         if self.can_have_content {
+            self.start_tag.set_self_closing_syntax(false);
             self.start_tag
                 .mutations
                 .mutate()
@@ -415,6 +435,7 @@ impl<'r, 't, H: HandlerTypes> Element<'r, 't, H> {
 
     fn append_chunk(&mut self, chunk: StringChunk) {
         if self.can_have_content {
+            self.start_tag.set_self_closing_syntax(false);
             self.end_tag_mutations_mut().content_before.push_back(chunk);
         }
     }
@@ -473,6 +494,7 @@ impl<'r, 't, H: HandlerTypes> Element<'r, 't, H> {
 
     fn set_inner_content_chunk(&mut self, chunk: StringChunk) {
         if self.can_have_content {
+            self.start_tag.set_self_closing_syntax(false);
             self.remove_content();
             self.start_tag
                 .mutations
diff --git a/src/rewritable_units/tokens/start_tag.rs b/src/rewritable_units/tokens/start_tag.rs
index d4adeb19..a026f6eb 100644
--- a/src/rewritable_units/tokens/start_tag.rs
+++ b/src/rewritable_units/tokens/start_tag.rs
@@ -102,12 +102,25 @@ impl<'i> StartTag<'i> {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Whether the tag is explicitly self-closing, e.g. `<foo />`.
+    /// Whether the tag syntactically ends with `/>`. In HTML content this is purely a decorative, unnecessary, and has no effect of any kind.
+    ///
+    /// The `/>` syntax only affects parsing of elements in foreign content (SVG and MathML).
+    /// It will never close any HTML tags that aren't already defined as [void](spec) in HTML.
+    ///
+    /// This function only reports the parsed syntax, and will not report which elements are actually void in HTML.
+    ///
+    /// [spec]: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/syntax.html#start-tags
+    ///
+    /// If the `/` is part of an unquoted attribute, it's not parsed as the self-closing syntax.
     #[inline]
     pub fn self_closing(&self) -> bool {
         self.self_closing
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn set_self_closing_syntax(&mut self, has_slash: bool) {
+        self.self_closing = has_slash;
+    }
+
     /// Inserts `content` before the start tag.
     ///
     /// Consequent calls to the method append `content` to the previously inserted content.
diff --git a/src/rewriter/mod.rs b/src/rewriter/mod.rs
index 73511b61..ac336960 100644
--- a/src/rewriter/mod.rs
+++ b/src/rewriter/mod.rs
@@ -446,6 +446,30 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(res, "<!-- 42 --><span><!--hello--></span>");
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn rewrite_incorrect_self_closing() {
+        let res = rewrite_str::<LocalHandlerTypes>(
+            "<title /></title><div/></div><style /></style><script /></script>
+            <br/><br><embed/><embed> <svg><a/><path/><path></path></svg>",
+            RewriteStrSettings {
+                element_content_handlers: vec![element!("*:not(svg)", |el| {
+                    el.set_attribute("s", if el.is_self_closing() { "y" } else { "n" })?;
+                    el.set_attribute("c", if el.can_have_content() { "y" } else { "n" })?;
+                    el.append("…", ContentType::Text);
+                    Ok(())
+                })],
+                ..RewriteStrSettings::new()
+            },
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            res,
+            r#"<title s="y" c="y">…</title><div s="y" c="y">…</div><style s="y" c="y">…</style><script s="y" c="y">…</script>
+            <br s="y" c="n" /><br s="n" c="n"><embed s="y" c="n" /><embed s="n" c="n"> <svg><a s="y" c="n" /><path s="y" c="n" /><path s="n" c="y">…</path></svg>"#
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn rewrite_arbitrary_settings() {
         let res = rewrite_str("<span>Some text</span>", Settings::new()).unwrap();