diff --git a/Makefile.pre.in b/Makefile.pre.in
index 44c1f15614b..c014236ce5c 100644
--- a/Makefile.pre.in
+++ b/Makefile.pre.in
@@ -441,11 +441,12 @@ platform: $(BUILDPYTHON)
 
 
 # Build the shared modules
-# MAKEFLAGS are sorted and normalized. Under GNU make the 's' for
+# Under GNU make, MAKEFLAGS are sorted and normalized; the 's' for
 # -s, --silent or --quiet is always the first char.
+# Under BSD make, MAKEFLAGS might be " -s -v x=y".
 sharedmods: $(BUILDPYTHON)
 	@case "$$MAKEFLAGS" in \
-	    s*) quiet="-q";; \
+	    *\ -s*|s*) quiet="-q";; \
 	    *) quiet="";; \
 	esac; \
 	$(RUNSHARED) CC='$(CC)' LDSHARED='$(BLDSHARED)' OPT='$(OPT)' \
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index b984b9984bf..d0960b7a2bf 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -706,6 +706,8 @@ Tests
 Build
 -----
 
+- Issue #16593: Have BSD 'make -s' do the right thing, thanks to Daniel Shahaf
+
 - Issue #16262: fix out-of-src-tree builds, if mercurial is not installed.
 
 - Issue #15923: fix a mistake in asdl_c.py that resulted in a TypeError after