diff --git a/view/resources.php b/view/resources.php
index 3ee4936cd1a..7f264a8cf09 100644
--- a/view/resources.php
+++ b/view/resources.php
@@ -330,6 +330,8 @@
 				'wikibase-description-edit-placeholder',
 				'wikibase-description-edit-placeholder-language-aware',
 				'wikibase-description-empty',
+				'wikibase-description-not-applicable',
+				'wikibase-description-not-applicable-title',
 				'wikibase-statementgrouplistview-add',
 				'wikibase-description-empty',
 				'wikibase-entitytermsview-entitytermsforlanguagelistview-configure-link-label',
diff --git a/view/resources/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.js b/view/resources/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.js
index df98f22c6b9..7342f33685e 100644
--- a/view/resources/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.js
+++ b/view/resources/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.js
@@ -108,7 +108,13 @@
 			this.element[ descriptionText ? 'removeClass' : 'addClass' ]( 'wb-empty' );
 
 			if ( !this.isInEditMode() && !descriptionText ) {
-				this.$text.text( mw.msg( 'wikibase-description-empty' ) );
+				if ( languageCode === 'mul' ) {
+					this.$text.empty().append(
+						this._createDescriptionNotApplicableElements()
+					);
+				} else {
+					this.$text.text( mw.msg( 'wikibase-description-empty' ) );
+				}
 				// Apply lang and dir of UI language
 				// instead language of that row
 				var userLanguage = mw.config.get( 'wgUserLanguage' );
@@ -189,6 +195,15 @@
 			return response;
 		},
 
+		_createDescriptionNotApplicableElements: function () {
+			var $abbr = $( '<abbr>' ).attr( 'title', mw.msg( 'wikibase-description-not-applicable-title' ) );
+			var $abbrText = $( '<span>' )
+				.text( mw.msg( 'wikibase-description-not-applicable' ) )
+				.attr( 'aria-hidden', 'true' );
+			$abbr.append( $abbrText );
+			return $abbr;
+		},
+
 		/**
 		 * Gets/Sets the widget's value.
 		 *
diff --git a/view/tests/qunit/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.tests.js b/view/tests/qunit/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.tests.js
index 558d8eb316b..248649bfdb2 100644
--- a/view/tests/qunit/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.tests.js
+++ b/view/tests/qunit/jquery/wikibase/jquery.wikibase.descriptionview.tests.js
@@ -151,4 +151,17 @@
 		);
 	} );
 
+	QUnit.test( 'shows N/A placeholder for mul', function ( assert ) {
+		var $descriptionview = createDescriptionview( {
+				value: new datamodel.Term( 'mul', '' )
+			} ),
+			descriptionview = $descriptionview.data( 'descriptionview' );
+
+		assert.strictEqual(
+			descriptionview.$text.text(),
+			'(wikibase-description-not-applicable)',
+			'Shows "not applicable" placeholder.'
+		);
+	} );
+
 }() );