diff --git a/doc/api/stream.md b/doc/api/stream.md
index 14be27cbf2d911..c72873c466fdb3 100644
--- a/doc/api/stream.md
+++ b/doc/api/stream.md
@@ -355,6 +355,9 @@ See also: [`writable.uncork()`][].
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.9.4
 changes:
+  - version: REPLACEME
+    pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/18780
+    description: This method now returns a reference to `writable`.
   - version: v8.0.0
     pr-url: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/11608
     description: The `chunk` argument can now be a `Uint8Array` instance.
@@ -366,6 +369,7 @@ changes:
   other than `null`.
 * `encoding` {string} The encoding, if `chunk` is a string
 * `callback` {Function} Optional callback for when the stream is finished
+* Returns: {this}
 
 Calling the `writable.end()` method signals that no more data will be written
 to the [Writable][]. The optional `chunk` and `encoding` arguments allow one
diff --git a/lib/_stream_writable.js b/lib/_stream_writable.js
index 3796bbc04e115d..2b7658813599e5 100644
--- a/lib/_stream_writable.js
+++ b/lib/_stream_writable.js
@@ -570,6 +570,8 @@ Writable.prototype.end = function(chunk, encoding, cb) {
   // ignore unnecessary end() calls.
   if (!state.ending)
     endWritable(this, state, cb);
+
+  return this;
 };
 
 Object.defineProperty(Writable.prototype, 'writableLength', {
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-stream-writableState-ending.js b/test/parallel/test-stream-writableState-ending.js
index 1e0b0bf77f1ee7..ae2121f456eb4b 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-stream-writableState-ending.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-stream-writableState-ending.js
@@ -24,11 +24,14 @@ writable.on('finish', () => {
   testStates(true, true, true);
 });
 
-writable.end('testing function end()', () => {
+const result = writable.end('testing function end()', () => {
   // ending, finished, ended = true.
   testStates(true, true, true);
 });
 
+// end returns the writable instance
+assert.strictEqual(result, writable);
+
 // ending, ended = true.
 // finished = false.
 testStates(true, false, true);