diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index fe87bf9b9..28e89863f 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Deprecated
 Features added
 --------------
 
+* #9023: More CSS classes on domain descriptions, see :ref:`nodes` for details.
+
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/basic/static/basic.css_t b/sphinx/themes/basic/static/basic.css_t
index f0ce51e4b..de7651e17 100644
--- a/sphinx/themes/basic/static/basic.css_t
+++ b/sphinx/themes/basic/static/basic.css_t
@@ -510,6 +510,10 @@ table.hlist td {
 
 /* -- object description styles --------------------------------------------- */
 
+.sig {
+	font-family: monospace;
+}
+
 .sig-name, code.descname {
     background-color: transparent;
     font-weight: bold;
@@ -534,8 +538,8 @@ table.hlist td {
 
 /* C++ specific styling */
 
-.sig-inline.cpp-expr {
-	font-family: monospace;
+.sig-inline.cpp-texpr {
+	font-family: unset;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html5.py b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
index 1c81584e3..469642591 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html5.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
@@ -127,16 +127,16 @@ class HTML5Translator(SphinxTranslator, BaseTranslator):
     ##############################################
 
     def visit_desc_name(self, node: Element) -> None:
-        self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'code', ''))
+        self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'span', ''))
 
     def depart_desc_name(self, node: Element) -> None:
-        self.body.append('</code>')
+        self.body.append('</span>')
 
     def visit_desc_addname(self, node: Element) -> None:
-        self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'code', ''))
+        self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'span', ''))
 
     def depart_desc_addname(self, node: Element) -> None:
-        self.body.append('</code>')
+        self.body.append('</span>')
 
     def visit_desc_type(self, node: Element) -> None:
         pass