diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.cpp
index ad49fea3076..e861ab87182 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1997, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1997, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ void markWord::print_on(outputStream* st, bool print_monitor_info) const {
     st->print(" locked(" INTPTR_FORMAT ")", value());
   } else {
     st->print(" mark(");
-    if (is_neutral()) {   // last bits = 01
-      st->print("is_neutral");
+    if (is_unlocked()) {   // last bits = 01
+      st->print("is_unlocked");
       if (has_no_hash()) {
         st->print(" no_hash");
       } else {
diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.hpp b/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.hpp
index be85fb8ba82..ba89f947dcf 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.hpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/oops/markWord.hpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1997, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1997, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ class markWord {
   bool is_marked()   const {
     return (mask_bits(value(), lock_mask_in_place) == marked_value);
   }
-  bool is_neutral()  const {
+  bool is_neutral()  const {  // Not locked, or marked - a "clean" neutral state
     return (mask_bits(value(), lock_mask_in_place) == unlocked_value);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.cpp
index b6cb4b075be..6e9860e76aa 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1997, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1997, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ void BasicLock::print_on(outputStream* st, oop owner) const {
 void BasicLock::move_to(oop obj, BasicLock* dest) {
   // Check to see if we need to inflate the lock. This is only needed
   // if an object is locked using "this" lightweight monitor. In that
-  // case, the displaced_header() is unlocked/is_neutral, because the
+  // case, the displaced_header() is unlocked/neutral, because the
   // displaced_header() contains the header for the originally unlocked
   // object. However the lock could have already been inflated. But it
-  // does not matter, this inflation will just a no-op. For other cases,
+  // does not matter, this inflation will just be a no-op. For other cases,
   // the displaced header will be either 0x0 or 0x3, which are location
   // independent, therefore the BasicLock is free to move.
   //
@@ -63,11 +63,11 @@ void BasicLock::move_to(oop obj, BasicLock* dest) {
   // one stack location to another.  This avoids inflation.  Obviously,
   // we need to ensure that both locations refer to the current thread's stack.
   // There are some subtle concurrency issues, however, and since the benefit is
-  // is small (given the support for inflated fast-path locking in the fast_lock, etc)
+  // small (given the support for inflated fast-path locking in the fast_lock, etc)
   // we'll leave that optimization for another time.
 
   if (LockingMode == LM_LEGACY) {
-    if (displaced_header().is_neutral()) {
+    if (displaced_header().is_unlocked()) {
       // The object is locked and the resulting ObjectMonitor* will also be
       // locked so it can't be async deflated until ownership is dropped.
       ObjectSynchronizer::inflate_helper(obj);
diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.hpp b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.hpp
index 3338d466d1d..c348fa7f9a2 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.hpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/basicLock.hpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1998, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1998, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ class BasicLock {
   friend class VMStructs;
   friend class JVMCIVMStructs;
  private:
+  // This is either the actual displaced header from a locked object, or
+  // a sentinel zero value indicating a recursive stack-lock.
   volatile markWord _displaced_header;
  public:
   markWord displaced_header() const {
@@ -46,7 +48,7 @@ class BasicLock {
 
   void print_on(outputStream* st, oop owner) const;
 
-  // move a basic lock (used during deoptimization
+  // move a basic lock (used during deoptimization)
   void move_to(oop obj, BasicLock* dest);
 
   static int displaced_header_offset_in_bytes() { return (int)offset_of(BasicLock, _displaced_header); }
diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/synchronizer.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/synchronizer.cpp
index 2dbafc62766..356be7cba43 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/synchronizer.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/synchronizer.cpp
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ bool ObjectSynchronizer::enter_fast_impl(Handle obj, BasicLock* lock, JavaThread
       }
 
       markWord mark = obj()->mark_acquire();
-      while (mark.is_neutral()) {
+      while (mark.is_unlocked()) {
         // Retry until a lock state change has been observed. cas_set_mark() may collide with non lock bits modifications.
         // Try to swing into 'fast-locked' state.
         assert(!lock_stack.contains(obj()), "thread must not already hold the lock");
@@ -625,7 +625,7 @@ bool ObjectSynchronizer::enter_fast_impl(Handle obj, BasicLock* lock, JavaThread
       return false;
     } else if (LockingMode == LM_LEGACY) {
       markWord mark = obj->mark();
-      if (mark.is_neutral()) {
+      if (mark.is_unlocked()) {
         // Anticipate successful CAS -- the ST of the displaced mark must
         // be visible <= the ST performed by the CAS.
         lock->set_displaced_header(mark);
@@ -696,7 +696,7 @@ void ObjectSynchronizer::exit(oop object, BasicLock* lock, JavaThread* current)
           // Only do diagnostics if we are not racing an inflation. Simply
           // exiting a recursive enter of a Java Monitor that is being
           // inflated is safe; see the has_monitor() comment below.
-          assert(!mark.is_neutral(), "invariant");
+          assert(!mark.is_unlocked(), "invariant");
           assert(!mark.has_locker() ||
                  current->is_lock_owned((address)mark.locker()), "invariant");
           if (mark.has_monitor()) {
@@ -1009,7 +1009,7 @@ intptr_t ObjectSynchronizer::FastHashCode(Thread* current, oop obj) {
       assert(LockingMode == LM_MONITOR, "+VerifyHeavyMonitors requires LockingMode == 0 (LM_MONITOR)");
       guarantee((obj->mark().value() & markWord::lock_mask_in_place) != markWord::locked_value, "must not be lightweight/stack-locked");
     }
-    if (mark.is_neutral() || (LockingMode == LM_LIGHTWEIGHT && mark.is_fast_locked())) {
+    if (mark.is_unlocked() || (LockingMode == LM_LIGHTWEIGHT && mark.is_fast_locked())) {
       hash = mark.hash();
       if (hash != 0) {                     // if it has a hash, just return it
         return hash;
@@ -1139,7 +1139,7 @@ bool ObjectSynchronizer::current_thread_holds_lock(JavaThread* current,
     return monitor->is_entered(current) != 0;
   }
   // Unlocked case, header in place
-  assert(mark.is_neutral(), "sanity check");
+  assert(mark.is_unlocked(), "sanity check");
   return false;
 }
 
@@ -1172,7 +1172,7 @@ JavaThread* ObjectSynchronizer::get_lock_owner(ThreadsList * t_list, Handle h_ob
   // Unlocked case, header in place
   // Cannot have assertion since this object may have been
   // locked by another thread when reaching here.
-  // assert(mark.is_neutral(), "sanity check");
+  // assert(mark.is_unlocked(), "sanity check");
 
   return nullptr;
 }
@@ -1423,7 +1423,7 @@ ObjectMonitor* ObjectSynchronizer::inflate_impl(JavaThread* inflating_thread, oo
     // *  stack-locked - Coerce it to inflated from stack-locked.
     // *  INFLATING    - Busy wait for conversion from stack-locked to
     //                   inflated.
-    // *  neutral      - Aggressively inflate the object.
+    // *  unlocked     - Aggressively inflate the object.
 
     // CASE: inflated
     if (mark.has_monitor()) {
@@ -1601,7 +1601,7 @@ ObjectMonitor* ObjectSynchronizer::inflate_impl(JavaThread* inflating_thread, oo
       return m;
     }
 
-    // CASE: neutral
+    // CASE: unlocked
     // TODO-FIXME: for entry we currently inflate and then try to CAS _owner.
     // If we know we're inflating for entry it's better to inflate by swinging a
     // pre-locked ObjectMonitor pointer into the object header.   A successful
@@ -1610,9 +1610,7 @@ ObjectMonitor* ObjectSynchronizer::inflate_impl(JavaThread* inflating_thread, oo
     // to inflate and then CAS() again to try to swing _owner from null to current.
     // An inflateTry() method that we could call from enter() would be useful.
 
-    // Catch if the object's header is not neutral (not locked and
-    // not marked is what we care about here).
-    assert(mark.is_neutral(), "invariant: header=" INTPTR_FORMAT, mark.value());
+    assert(mark.is_unlocked(), "invariant: header=" INTPTR_FORMAT, mark.value());
     ObjectMonitor* m = new ObjectMonitor(object);
     // prepare m for installation - set monitor to initial state
     m->set_header(mark);
@@ -1635,7 +1633,7 @@ ObjectMonitor* ObjectSynchronizer::inflate_impl(JavaThread* inflating_thread, oo
     OM_PERFDATA_OP(Inflations, inc());
     if (log_is_enabled(Trace, monitorinflation)) {
       ResourceMark rm;
-      lsh.print_cr("inflate(neutral): object=" INTPTR_FORMAT ", mark="
+      lsh.print_cr("inflate(unlocked): object=" INTPTR_FORMAT ", mark="
                    INTPTR_FORMAT ", type='%s'", p2i(object),
                    object->mark().value(), object->klass()->external_name());
     }