diff --git a/docs/markdown/Reference-tables.md b/docs/markdown/Reference-tables.md
index 86f3e9ea5668..b2b4fe333d48 100644
--- a/docs/markdown/Reference-tables.md
+++ b/docs/markdown/Reference-tables.md
@@ -374,6 +374,7 @@ machine](#Environment-variables-per-machine) section for details.
 | Rust          | RUSTC    | RUSTC_LD  | Before 0.54 RUST_LD*                        |
 | Vala          | VALAC    |           | Use CC_LD. Vala transpiles to C             |
 | C#            | CSC      | CSC       | The linker is the compiler                  |
+| Cython        | CYTHON   |           |                                             |
 | nasm          | NASM     |           | Uses the C linker                           |
 
 *The old environment variables are still supported, but are deprecated
diff --git a/mesonbuild/envconfig.py b/mesonbuild/envconfig.py
index a717732495e7..0e9cd23cc736 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/envconfig.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/envconfig.py
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@
     'c': 'CC',
     'cpp': 'CXX',
     'cs': 'CSC',
+    'cython': 'CYTHON',
     'd': 'DC',
     'fortran': 'FC',
     'objc': 'OBJC',