diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index e36a6ae3090ac..9c35cc7c2a18b 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -112,6 +112,8 @@ with other backends. see #9125. Use `-d:nimLegacyJsRound` for previous behavior.
 
 - Removed the optional `longestMatch` parameter of the `critbits._WithPrefix` iterators (it never worked reliably)
 
+- Deprecated `any`. See https://github.com/nim-lang/RFCs/issues/281
+
 
 - Added optional `options` argument to `copyFile`, `copyFileToDir`, and
   `copyFileWithPermissions`. By default, on non-Windows OSes, symlinks are
diff --git a/doc/manual.rst b/doc/manual.rst
index 2ba05ed4e6e37..429e8a0fb7161 100644
--- a/doc/manual.rst
+++ b/doc/manual.rst
@@ -4803,7 +4803,6 @@ type class           matches
 ``set``              any set type
 ``seq``              any seq type
 ``auto``             any type
-``any``              distinct auto (see below)
 ==================   ===================================================
 
 Furthermore, every generic type automatically creates a type class of the same
diff --git a/lib/system.nim b/lib/system.nim
index 371611f70f4a2..e5dd4b14a65e7 100644
--- a/lib/system.nim
+++ b/lib/system.nim
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ type
 
   void* {.magic: "VoidType".}    ## Meta type to denote the absence of any type.
   auto* {.magic: Expr.}          ## Meta type for automatic type determination.
-  any* = distinct auto           ## Meta type for any supported type.
+  any* {.deprecated: "Deprecated since v1.5; Use auto instead.".} = distinct auto  ## Deprecated; Use `auto` instead. See https://github.com/nim-lang/RFCs/issues/281
   untyped* {.magic: Expr.}       ## Meta type to denote an expression that
                                  ## is not resolved (for templates).
   typed* {.magic: Stmt.}         ## Meta type to denote an expression that