diff --git a/base/float.jl b/base/float.jl
index d26d279e47895..5e40652490835 100644
--- a/base/float.jl
+++ b/base/float.jl
@@ -836,12 +836,12 @@ number of significand digits in that base.
 """
 function precision end
 
-_precision(::Type{Float16}) = 11
-_precision(::Type{Float32}) = 24
-_precision(::Type{Float64}) = 53
-function _precision(x, base::Integer=2)
+_precision_with_base_2(::Type{Float16}) = 11
+_precision_with_base_2(::Type{Float32}) = 24
+_precision_with_base_2(::Type{Float64}) = 53
+function _precision(x, base::Integer)
     base > 1 || throw(DomainError(base, "`base` cannot be less than 2."))
-    p = _precision(x)
+    p = _precision_with_base_2(x)
     return base == 2 ? Int(p) : floor(Int, p / log2(base))
 end
 precision(::Type{T}; base::Integer=2) where {T<:AbstractFloat} = _precision(T, base)
diff --git a/base/mpfr.jl b/base/mpfr.jl
index 276fd430ff1e0..c12154fa517c3 100644
--- a/base/mpfr.jl
+++ b/base/mpfr.jl
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import
         cosh, sinh, tanh, sech, csch, coth, acosh, asinh, atanh, lerpi,
         cbrt, typemax, typemin, unsafe_trunc, floatmin, floatmax, rounding,
         setrounding, maxintfloat, widen, significand, frexp, tryparse, iszero,
-        isone, big, _string_n, decompose, minmax,
+        isone, big, _string_n, decompose, minmax, _precision_with_base_2,
         sinpi, cospi, sincospi, tanpi, sind, cosd, tand, asind, acosd, atand,
         uinttype, exponent_max, exponent_min, ieee754_representation, significand_mask,
         RawBigIntRoundingIncrementHelper, truncated, RawBigInt
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ widen(::Type{Float64}) = BigFloat
 widen(::Type{BigFloat}) = BigFloat
 
 function BigFloat(x::BigFloat, r::MPFRRoundingMode=ROUNDING_MODE[]; precision::Integer=DEFAULT_PRECISION[])
-    if precision == _precision(x)
+    if precision == _precision_with_base_2(x)
         return x
     else
         z = BigFloat(;precision=precision)
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ function BigFloat(x::BigFloat, r::MPFRRoundingMode=ROUNDING_MODE[]; precision::I
 end
 
 function _duplicate(x::BigFloat)
-    z = BigFloat(;precision=_precision(x))
+    z = BigFloat(;precision=_precision_with_base_2(x))
     ccall((:mpfr_set, libmpfr), Int32, (Ref{BigFloat}, Ref{BigFloat}, Int32), z, x, 0)
     return z
 end
@@ -954,12 +954,12 @@ function sign(x::BigFloat)
     return c < 0 ? -one(x) : one(x)
 end
 
-function _precision(x::BigFloat)  # precision of an object of type BigFloat
+function _precision_with_base_2(x::BigFloat)  # precision of an object of type BigFloat
     return ccall((:mpfr_get_prec, libmpfr), Clong, (Ref{BigFloat},), x)
 end
 precision(x::BigFloat; base::Integer=2) = _precision(x, base)
 
-_precision(::Type{BigFloat}) = Int(DEFAULT_PRECISION[]) # default precision of the type BigFloat itself
+_precision_with_base_2(::Type{BigFloat}) = Int(DEFAULT_PRECISION[]) # default precision of the type BigFloat itself
 
 """
     setprecision([T=BigFloat,] precision::Int; base=2)
diff --git a/test/numbers.jl b/test/numbers.jl
index a9d126aa33d5a..a50ce5f85df0e 100644
--- a/test/numbers.jl
+++ b/test/numbers.jl
@@ -3141,3 +3141,26 @@ end
         @test n == G(F(n)) == F(G(n))
     end
 end
+
+@testset "`precision`" begin
+    Fs = (Float16, Float32, Float64, BigFloat)
+
+    @testset "type vs instance" begin
+        @testset "F: $F" for F ∈ Fs
+            @test precision(F) == precision(one(F))
+            @test precision(F, base = 2) == precision(one(F), base = 2)
+            @test precision(F, base = 3) == precision(one(F), base = 3)
+        end
+    end
+
+    @testset "`precision` of `Union` shouldn't recur infinitely, #52909" begin
+        @testset "i: $i" for i ∈ eachindex(Fs)
+            @testset "j: $j" for j ∈ (i + 1):lastindex(Fs)
+                S = Fs[i]
+                T = Fs[j]
+                @test_throws MethodError precision(Union{S,T})
+                @test_throws MethodError precision(Union{S,T}, base = 3)
+            end
+        end
+    end
+end