diff --git a/lib/node-gyp.js b/lib/node-gyp.js
index f60ea51c35..18c786823c 100644
--- a/lib/node-gyp.js
+++ b/lib/node-gyp.js
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ class Gyp extends EventEmitter {
   parseArgv (argv) {
     this.opts = nopt(this.configDefs, this.shorthands, argv)
     this.argv = this.opts.argv.remain.slice()
+    // the environment is read below and would overwrite this, but an explicit
+    // --loglevel on the command line should win over npm's inherited loglevel
+    const cliLoglevel = this.opts.loglevel
 
     const commands = this.todo = []
 
@@ -158,8 +161,9 @@ class Gyp extends EventEmitter {
       }
     }
 
-    if (this.opts.loglevel) {
-      log.logger.level = this.opts.loglevel
+    const loglevel = cliLoglevel || this.opts.loglevel
+    if (loglevel) {
+      log.logger.level = loglevel
       delete this.opts.loglevel
     }
     log.resume()
diff --git a/test/test-options.js b/test/test-options.js
index 7168d2e088..9a7e4dd99c 100644
--- a/test/test-options.js
+++ b/test/test-options.js
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ describe('options', function () {
     // loglevel does not get added to opts but will change the logger's level.
     process.env.npm_config_loglevel = 'silly'
 
+    // the logger is shared, so reset whatever level earlier tests left behind
+    // (e.g. from an npm_config_loglevel set by the caller of `npm test`)
+    log.logger.level = 'info'
+
     const g = gyp()
 
     assert.strictEqual(log.logger.level.id, 'info')
@@ -99,4 +103,26 @@ describe('options', function () {
 
     assert.strictEqual(g.opts['msvs-version'], '2022')
   })
+
+  it('--loglevel on the command line wins over npm_config_loglevel', () => {
+    process.env.npm_config_loglevel = 'error'
+    log.logger.level = 'info'
+
+    try {
+      const g = gyp()
+      g.parseArgv(['node', 'node-gyp', 'rebuild', '--loglevel=verbose'])
+
+      assert.strictEqual(log.logger.level.id, 'verbose')
+      assert.strictEqual(g.opts.loglevel, undefined)
+
+      gyp().parseArgv(['node', 'node-gyp', 'rebuild', '--silly'])
+      assert.strictEqual(log.logger.level.id, 'silly')
+
+      gyp().parseArgv(['node', 'node-gyp', 'rebuild'])
+      assert.strictEqual(log.logger.level.id, 'error')
+    } finally {
+      delete process.env.npm_config_loglevel
+      log.logger.level = 'info'
+    }
+  })
 })