diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h b/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
index 77405e27cd64745f75cbf9d382cc71cd2ce40dd1..98af198286950355ae218b1fa53a88e49a27255b 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@
 enum ovl_path_type {
 	__OVL_PATH_UPPER	= (1 << 0),
 	__OVL_PATH_MERGE	= (1 << 1),
+	__OVL_PATH_ORIGIN	= (1 << 2),
 };
 
 #define OVL_TYPE_UPPER(type)	((type) & __OVL_PATH_UPPER)
 #define OVL_TYPE_MERGE(type)	((type) & __OVL_PATH_MERGE)
+#define OVL_TYPE_ORIGIN(type)	((type) & __OVL_PATH_ORIGIN)
 
 #define OVL_XATTR_PREFIX XATTR_TRUSTED_PREFIX "overlay."
 #define OVL_XATTR_OPAQUE OVL_XATTR_PREFIX "opaque"
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/util.c b/fs/overlayfs/util.c
index 2bd4c264ccbefca9caccf9c3613149068c5d6135..1c1b6ea7bf7c8316d703d2daed516e5ec2cdf94e 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/util.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/util.c
@@ -83,11 +83,13 @@ enum ovl_path_type ovl_path_type(struct dentry *dentry)
 		type = __OVL_PATH_UPPER;
 
 		/*
-		 * Non-dir dentry can hold lower dentry from previous
-		 * location.
+		 * Non-dir dentry can hold lower dentry of its copy up origin.
 		 */
-		if (oe->numlower && d_is_dir(dentry))
-			type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;
+		if (oe->numlower) {
+			type |= __OVL_PATH_ORIGIN;
+			if (d_is_dir(dentry))
+				type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;
+		}
 	} else {
 		if (oe->numlower > 1)
 			type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;