diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 81f981509a..74af36de5c 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -581,6 +581,22 @@ diff.external::
 	you want to use an external diff program only on a subset of
 	your files, you	might want to use linkgit:gitattributes[5] instead.
 
+diff.mnemonicprefix::
+	If set, 'git-diff' uses a prefix pair that is different from the
+	standard "a/" and "b/" depending on what is being compared.  When
+	this configuration is in effect, reverse diff output also swaps
+	the order of the prefixes:
+'git-diff';;
+	compares the (i)ndex and the (w)ork tree;
+'git-diff HEAD';;
+	 compares a (c)ommit and the (w)ork tree;
+'git diff --cached';;
+	compares a (c)ommit and the (i)ndex;
+'git-diff HEAD:file1 file2';;
+	compares an (o)bject and a (w)ork tree entity;
+'git diff --no-index a b';;
+	compares two non-git things (1) and (2).
+
 diff.renameLimit::
 	The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
 	detection; equivalent to the 'git-diff' option '-l'.
diff --git a/builtin-diff.c b/builtin-diff.c
index 7ffea97505..266337b832 100644
--- a/builtin-diff.c
+++ b/builtin-diff.c
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ static int builtin_diff_b_f(struct rev_info *revs,
 	if (!(S_ISREG(st.st_mode) || S_ISLNK(st.st_mode)))
 		die("'%s': not a regular file or symlink", path);
 
+	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "o/", "w/");
+
 	if (blob[0].mode == S_IFINVALID)
 		blob[0].mode = canon_mode(st.st_mode);
 
diff --git a/combine-diff.c b/combine-diff.c
index 4dfc330867..19bd60e346 100644
--- a/combine-diff.c
+++ b/combine-diff.c
@@ -675,9 +675,13 @@ static void show_patch_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
 	int i, show_hunks;
 	int working_tree_file = is_null_sha1(elem->sha1);
 	int abbrev = DIFF_OPT_TST(opt, FULL_INDEX) ? 40 : DEFAULT_ABBREV;
+	const char *a_prefix, *b_prefix;
 	mmfile_t result_file;
 
 	context = opt->context;
+	a_prefix = opt->a_prefix ? opt->a_prefix : "a/";
+	b_prefix = opt->b_prefix ? opt->b_prefix : "b/";
+
 	/* Read the result of merge first */
 	if (!working_tree_file)
 		result = grab_blob(elem->sha1, &result_size);
@@ -853,13 +857,13 @@ static void show_patch_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
 			dump_quoted_path("--- ", "", "/dev/null",
 					 c_meta, c_reset);
 		else
-			dump_quoted_path("--- ", opt->a_prefix, elem->path,
+			dump_quoted_path("--- ", a_prefix, elem->path,
 					 c_meta, c_reset);
 		if (deleted)
 			dump_quoted_path("+++ ", "", "/dev/null",
 					 c_meta, c_reset);
 		else
-			dump_quoted_path("+++ ", opt->b_prefix, elem->path,
+			dump_quoted_path("+++ ", b_prefix, elem->path,
 					 c_meta, c_reset);
 		dump_sline(sline, cnt, num_parent,
 			   DIFF_OPT_TST(opt, COLOR_DIFF));
diff --git a/diff-lib.c b/diff-lib.c
index e7eaff9a68..ae96c64ca2 100644
--- a/diff-lib.c
+++ b/diff-lib.c
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ int run_diff_files(struct rev_info *revs, unsigned int option)
 			      ? CE_MATCH_RACY_IS_DIRTY : 0);
 	char symcache[PATH_MAX];
 
+	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "i/", "w/");
+
 	if (diff_unmerged_stage < 0)
 		diff_unmerged_stage = 2;
 	entries = active_nr;
@@ -469,6 +471,7 @@ int run_diff_index(struct rev_info *revs, int cached)
 	if (unpack_trees(1, &t, &opts))
 		exit(128);
 
+	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "c/", cached ? "i/" : "w/");
 	diffcore_std(&revs->diffopt);
 	diff_flush(&revs->diffopt);
 	return 0;
diff --git a/diff-no-index.c b/diff-no-index.c
index 7d68b7f1be..b60d3455da 100644
--- a/diff-no-index.c
+++ b/diff-no-index.c
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ void diff_no_index(struct rev_info *revs,
 	if (queue_diff(&revs->diffopt, revs->diffopt.paths[0],
 		       revs->diffopt.paths[1]))
 		exit(1);
+	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "1/", "2/");
 	diffcore_std(&revs->diffopt);
 	diff_flush(&revs->diffopt);
 
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 7b4300a74a..c1804efed9 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ static int diff_rename_limit_default = 200;
 int diff_use_color_default = -1;
 static const char *external_diff_cmd_cfg;
 int diff_auto_refresh_index = 1;
+static int diff_mnemonic_prefix;
 
 static char diff_colors[][COLOR_MAXLEN] = {
 	"\033[m",	/* reset */
@@ -149,6 +150,10 @@ int git_diff_ui_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		diff_auto_refresh_index = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
+	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.mnemonicprefix")) {
+		diff_mnemonic_prefix = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
 	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.external"))
 		return git_config_string(&external_diff_cmd_cfg, var, value);
 	if (!prefixcmp(var, "diff.")) {
@@ -305,6 +310,15 @@ static void emit_rewrite_diff(const char *name_a,
 	const char *new = diff_get_color(color_diff, DIFF_FILE_NEW);
 	const char *reset = diff_get_color(color_diff, DIFF_RESET);
 	static struct strbuf a_name = STRBUF_INIT, b_name = STRBUF_INIT;
+	const char *a_prefix, *b_prefix;
+
+	if (diff_mnemonic_prefix && DIFF_OPT_TST(o, REVERSE_DIFF)) {
+		a_prefix = o->b_prefix;
+		b_prefix = o->a_prefix;
+	} else {
+		a_prefix = o->a_prefix;
+		b_prefix = o->b_prefix;
+	}
 
 	name_a += (*name_a == '/');
 	name_b += (*name_b == '/');
@@ -313,8 +327,8 @@ static void emit_rewrite_diff(const char *name_a,
 
 	strbuf_reset(&a_name);
 	strbuf_reset(&b_name);
-	quote_two_c_style(&a_name, o->a_prefix, name_a, 0);
-	quote_two_c_style(&b_name, o->b_prefix, name_b, 0);
+	quote_two_c_style(&a_name, a_prefix, name_a, 0);
+	quote_two_c_style(&b_name, b_prefix, name_b, 0);
 
 	diff_populate_filespec(one, 0);
 	diff_populate_filespec(two, 0);
@@ -1432,6 +1446,14 @@ static const char *diff_funcname_pattern(struct diff_filespec *one)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+void diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(struct diff_options *options, const char *a, const char *b)
+{
+	if (!options->a_prefix)
+		options->a_prefix = a;
+	if (!options->b_prefix)
+		options->b_prefix = b;
+}
+
 static void builtin_diff(const char *name_a,
 			 const char *name_b,
 			 struct diff_filespec *one,
@@ -1445,9 +1467,19 @@ static void builtin_diff(const char *name_a,
 	char *a_one, *b_two;
 	const char *set = diff_get_color_opt(o, DIFF_METAINFO);
 	const char *reset = diff_get_color_opt(o, DIFF_RESET);
+	const char *a_prefix, *b_prefix;
 
-	a_one = quote_two(o->a_prefix, name_a + (*name_a == '/'));
-	b_two = quote_two(o->b_prefix, name_b + (*name_b == '/'));
+	diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(o, "a/", "b/");
+	if (DIFF_OPT_TST(o, REVERSE_DIFF)) {
+		a_prefix = o->b_prefix;
+		b_prefix = o->a_prefix;
+	} else {
+		a_prefix = o->a_prefix;
+		b_prefix = o->b_prefix;
+	}
+
+	a_one = quote_two(a_prefix, name_a + (*name_a == '/'));
+	b_two = quote_two(b_prefix, name_b + (*name_b == '/'));
 	lbl[0] = DIFF_FILE_VALID(one) ? a_one : "/dev/null";
 	lbl[1] = DIFF_FILE_VALID(two) ? b_two : "/dev/null";
 	fprintf(o->file, "%sdiff --git %s %s%s\n", set, a_one, b_two, reset);
@@ -2308,8 +2340,10 @@ void diff_setup(struct diff_options *options)
 		DIFF_OPT_CLR(options, COLOR_DIFF);
 	options->detect_rename = diff_detect_rename_default;
 
-	options->a_prefix = "a/";
-	options->b_prefix = "b/";
+	if (!diff_mnemonic_prefix) {
+		options->a_prefix = "a/";
+		options->b_prefix = "b/";
+	}
 }
 
 int diff_setup_done(struct diff_options *options)
diff --git a/diff.h b/diff.h
index 50fb5ddb0b..9a679f58f5 100644
--- a/diff.h
+++ b/diff.h
@@ -160,6 +160,8 @@ extern void diff_tree_combined(const unsigned char *sha1, const unsigned char pa
 
 extern void diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1, int, struct rev_info *);
 
+void diff_set_mnemonic_prefix(struct diff_options *options, const char *a, const char *b);
+
 extern void diff_addremove(struct diff_options *,
 			   int addremove,
 			   unsigned mode,