diff --git a/packages/forms/src/validators.ts b/packages/forms/src/validators.ts
index 68b947ced8..a15ee595e8 100644
--- a/packages/forms/src/validators.ts
+++ b/packages/forms/src/validators.ts
@@ -57,6 +57,36 @@ export const NG_VALIDATORS = new InjectionToken<Array<Validator|Function>>('NgVa
 export const NG_ASYNC_VALIDATORS =
     new InjectionToken<Array<Validator|Function>>('NgAsyncValidators');
 
+/**
+ * A regular expression that matches valid e-mail addresses.
+ *
+ * At a high level, this regexp matches e-mail addresses of the format `local-part@tld`, where:
+ * - `local-part` consists of one or more of the allowed characters (alphanumeric and some
+ *   punctuation symbols).
+ * - `local-part` cannot begin or end with a period (`.`).
+ * - `local-part` cannot be longer than 64 characters.
+ * - `tld` consists of one or more `labels` separated by periods (`.`). For example `localhost` or
+ *   `foo.com`.
+ * - A `label` consists of one or more of the allowed characters (alphanumeric, dashes (`-`) and
+ *   periods (`.`)).
+ * - A `label` cannot begin or end with a dash (`-`) or a period (`.`).
+ * - A `label` cannot be longer than 63 characters.
+ * - The whole address cannot be longer than 254 characters.
+ *
+ * ## Implementation background
+ *
+ * This regexp was ported over from AngularJS (see there for git history):
+ * https://github.com/angular/angular.js/blob/c133ef836/src/ng/directive/input.js#L27
+ * It is based on the
+ * [WHATWG version](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/input.html#valid-e-mail-address) with
+ * some enhancements to incorporate more RFC rules (such as rules related to domain names and the
+ * lengths of different parts of the address). The main differences from the WHATWG version are:
+ *   - Disallow `local-part` to begin or end with a period (`.`).
+ *   - Disallow `local-part` length to exceed 64 characters.
+ *   - Disallow total address length to exceed 254 characters.
+ *
+ * See [this commit](https://github.com/angular/angular.js/commit/f3f5cf72e) for more details.
+ */
 const EMAIL_REGEXP =
     /^(?=.{1,254}$)(?=.{1,64}@)[-!#$%&'*+/0-9=?A-Z^_`a-z{|}~]+(\.[-!#$%&'*+/0-9=?A-Z^_`a-z{|}~]+)*@[A-Za-z0-9]([A-Za-z0-9-]{0,61}[A-Za-z0-9])?(\.[A-Za-z0-9]([A-Za-z0-9-]{0,61}[A-Za-z0-9])?)*$/;
 
@@ -191,6 +221,20 @@ export class Validators {
    * @description
    * Validator that requires the control's value pass an email validation test.
    *
+   * Tests the value using a [regular expression](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions)
+   * pattern suitable for common usecases. The pattern is based on the definition of a valid email
+   * address in the [WHATWG HTML specification](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/input.html#valid-e-mail-address)
+   * with some enhancements to incorporate more RFC rules (such as rules related to domain names and
+   * the lengths of different parts of the address).
+   *
+   * The differences from the WHATWG version include:
+   * - Disallow `local-part` (the part before the `@` symbol) to begin or end with a period (`.`).
+   * - Disallow `local-part` to be longer than 64 characters.
+   * - Disallow the whole address to be longer than 254 characters.
+   *
+   * If this pattern does not satisfy your business needs, you can use `Validators.pattern()` to
+   * validate the value against a different pattern.
+   *
    * @usageNotes
    *
    * ### Validate that the field matches a valid email pattern