diff --git a/Doc/ref/ref3.tex b/Doc/ref/ref3.tex
index d95519f..46388b2 100644
--- a/Doc/ref/ref3.tex
+++ b/Doc/ref/ref3.tex
@@ -1056,7 +1056,7 @@
 
 \begin{methoddesc}[object]{__new__}{cls\optional{, \moreargs}}
 Called to create a new instance of class \var{cls}.  \method{__new__()}
-is a class method (special-cased so you need not declare it as such)
+is a static method (special-cased so you need not declare it as such)
 that takes the class of which an instance was requested as its first
 argument.  The remaining arguments are those passed to the object
 constructor expression (the call to the class).  The return value of