diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/Immutable.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/Immutable.java
index 1c40084012..86faf0403e 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/Immutable.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/Immutable.java
@@ -13,13 +13,15 @@ import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
 import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.*;
 
 /**
- * Marks an entity, collection, or attribute as immutable. The absence of this annotation
- * means the element is mutable.
+ * Marks an entity, collection, or attribute of an entity as immutable. The absence of this
+ * annotation means the element is mutable.
  * <ul>
  * <li>
  *     Changes made in memory to the state of an immutable entity are never synchronized to
  *     the database. The changes are ignored, with no exception thrown. In a mapped inheritance
- *     hierarchy, {@code @Immutable} may be applied only to the root entity.
+ *     hierarchy, {@code @Immutable} may be applied only to the root entity, and is inherited
+ *     by entity subclasses. To make just one entity in the hierarchy immutable, annotate its
+ *     attributes individually.
  * </li>
  * <li>
  *     An immutable collection may not be modified. A {@link org.hibernate.HibernateException}
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLock.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLock.java
index 2be58ebbe4..1a7d4bd5aa 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLock.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLock.java
@@ -12,11 +12,14 @@ import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
 import java.lang.annotation.Target;
 
 /**
- * Specifies whether updating the annotated attribute should trigger an increment
- * to the {@link jakarta.persistence.Version version} of the entity instance.
+ * Specifies whether mutating the annotated attribute should trigger an increment
+ * to the {@link jakarta.persistence.Version version} of the entity instance. Or,
+ * if {@link OptimisticLockType#ALL} or {@link OptimisticLockType#DIRTY} are used,
+ * specifies whether the attribute should be included or excluded from the list of
+ * checked attributes.
  * <p>
- * If this annotation is not present, updating an attribute does cause the version
- * to be incremented.
+ * If this annotation is not present, mutating an attribute <em>does</em> cause the
+ * version to be incremented.
  *
  * @author Logi Ragnarsson
  */
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLocking.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLocking.java
index 91ff839495..d0a769aabb 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLocking.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/annotations/OptimisticLocking.java
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
 
 /**
  * Specifies how optimistic lock checking works for the annotated entity.
- * We may detect that an optimistic lock has failed by checking either:
+ * Optimistic lock checking may detect that an optimistic lock has failed,
+ * and that the transaction should be aborted, by comparing either:
  * <ul>
  * <li>the {@linkplain OptimisticLockType#VERSION version or timestamp},
  * <li>the {@linkplain OptimisticLockType#DIRTY dirty fields} of the
@@ -23,14 +24,22 @@ import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
  * </ul>
  * An optimistic lock is usually checked by including a restriction in a
  * SQL {@code update} or {@code delete} statement. If the database reports
- * that zero rows were updated, we may infer that another transaction has
- * already updated or deleted the row, and report the {@linkplain
- * jakarta.persistence.OptimisticLockException failure} of the optimistic
- * lock.
+ * that zero rows were updated, it is inferred that another transaction
+ * has already updated or deleted the row, and the failure of the optimistic
+ * lock is reported via an {@link jakarta.persistence.OptimisticLockException}.
  * <p>
  * In an inheritance hierarchy, this annotation may only be applied to the
  * root entity, since the optimistic lock checking strategy is inherited
  * by entity subclasses.
+ * <p>
+ * To exclude a particular attribute from optimistic locking, annotate the
+ * attribute {@link OptimisticLock @OptimisticLock(excluded=true)}. Then:
+ * <ul>
+ * <li>changes to that attribute will never trigger a version increment, and
+ * <li>the attribute will not be included in the list of fields checked fields
+ *     when {@link OptimisticLockType#ALL} or {@link OptimisticLockType#DIRTY}
+ *     is used.
+ * </ul>
  *
  * @author Steve Ebersole
  *
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/PropertyBinder.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/PropertyBinder.java
index 453b44e62a..01808b4510 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/PropertyBinder.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/annotations/PropertyBinder.java
@@ -381,8 +381,8 @@ public class PropertyBinder {
 		return property;
 	}
 
-	private void handleNaturalId(Property prop) {
-		final NaturalId naturalId = property.getAnnotation(NaturalId.class);
+	private void handleNaturalId(Property property) {
+		final NaturalId naturalId = this.property.getAnnotation(NaturalId.class);
 		if ( naturalId != null ) {
 			if ( !entityBinder.isRootEntity() ) {
 				throw new AnnotationException( "Property '" + qualify( holder.getPath(), name )
@@ -392,27 +392,27 @@ public class PropertyBinder {
 			if ( !naturalId.mutable() ) {
 				updatable = false;
 			}
-			prop.setNaturalIdentifier( true );
+			property.setNaturalIdentifier( true );
 		}
 	}
 
-	private void inferOptimisticLocking(Property prop) {
+	private void inferOptimisticLocking(Property property) {
 		// this is already handled for collections in CollectionBinder...
 		if ( value instanceof Collection ) {
-			prop.setOptimisticLocked( ((Collection) value).isOptimisticLocked() );
+			property.setOptimisticLocked( ((Collection) value).isOptimisticLocked() );
 		}
-		else if ( property != null && property.isAnnotationPresent(OptimisticLock.class) ) {
-			final OptimisticLock lockAnn = property.getAnnotation(OptimisticLock.class);
-			validateOptimisticLock(lockAnn);
-			prop.setOptimisticLocked( !lockAnn.excluded() );
+		else if ( this.property != null && this.property.isAnnotationPresent(OptimisticLock.class) ) {
+			final OptimisticLock optimisticLock = this.property.getAnnotation(OptimisticLock.class);
+			validateOptimisticLock( optimisticLock );
+			property.setOptimisticLocked( !optimisticLock.excluded() );
 		}
 		else {
-			prop.setOptimisticLocked( !isToOneValue(value) || insertable ); // && updatable as well???
+			property.setOptimisticLocked( !isToOneValue(value) || insertable ); // && updatable as well???
 		}
 	}
 
-	private void validateOptimisticLock(OptimisticLock lockAnn) {
-		if ( lockAnn.excluded() ) {
+	private void validateOptimisticLock(OptimisticLock optimisticLock) {
+		if ( optimisticLock.excluded() ) {
 			if ( property.isAnnotationPresent(Version.class) ) {
 				throw new AnnotationException("Property '" + qualify( holder.getPath(), name )
 						+ "' is annotated '@OptimisticLock(excluded=true)' and '@Version'" );