diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fedee5a..d45c448 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,16 +1,25 @@
 # keyfork #
 
 An opinionated and modular toolchain for generating and managing a wide range
-of cryptographic keys offline and on smartcards from a shared BIP-0039 mnemonic
-phrase.
+of cryptographic keys offline and on smartcards from a shared [BIP-0039]
+mnemonic phrase. BIP-0039 phrases are used to calculate a [BIP-0032] seed,
+which is used for hierarchical deterministic key derivation.
+
+**Note:** The difference between the data encoded in a BIP-0039 mnemonic, and
+the BIP-0032 seed, is that a BIP-0039 mnemonic of any length can be used to
+generate a BIP-0032 seed of a static length (512 bits). Keyfork makes use of a
+BIP-0039 mnemonic and does not accept just a BIP-0032 seed - it will be treated
+as the entropy provided for a mnemonic, or rejected outright for being of an
+invalid size.
 
 Keyfork can be used by organizations and solo users, for the purposes of
 disaster recovery, cold storage, and reproducibility of private keys and secret
-data. Keyfork achieves this by using a BIP-0032 seed loaded into an agent to
+data. Keyfork achieves this by loading a BIP-0032 seed into an agent to
 generate deterministic and unique keypairs. This ensures only the agent has
-control over the mnemonic itself, and other components can request
-deterministic data. The seed can be split using the Keyfork Shard mechanism,
-which utilizes Shamir's Secret Sharing to allow "M-of-N" recovery of the seed.
+control over the root seed itself, and other components can request
+deterministic data. The BIP-0039 data can also be split using the Keyfork Shard
+mechanism, which utilizes Shamir's Secret Sharing to allow "M-of-N" recovery of
+the data.
 
 All crate licenses are notated using the "license" field in their respective
 Cargo.toml. As a general rule, As a general rule, crates with binaries are
@@ -217,6 +226,8 @@ which can be opened in-browser by running
 `mdbook serve --open docs`.
 
 [`docs`]: /public/keyfork/src/branch/main/docs/src/SUMMARY.md
+[BIP-0039]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki
+[BIP-0032]: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki
 
 <!--
 ```