diff --git a/common/changes/office-ui-fabric-react/jspurlin-SplitButtonAddAriaRoleDescription_2018-06-01-18-07.json b/common/changes/office-ui-fabric-react/jspurlin-SplitButtonAddAriaRoleDescription_2018-06-01-18-07.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..eb54be0391847
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/changes/office-ui-fabric-react/jspurlin-SplitButtonAddAriaRoleDescription_2018-06-01-18-07.json
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+  "changes": [
+    {
+      "packageName": "office-ui-fabric-react",
+      "comment": "SplitButton: Hook up aria-roledescription to splitButtons so that they can leverage that markup if it gets passed in to the component.",
+      "type": "patch"
+    }
+  ],
+  "packageName": "office-ui-fabric-react",
+  "email": "jspurlin@microsoft.com"
+}
diff --git a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/BaseButton.tsx b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/BaseButton.tsx
index 2a26c7f48849d..e5e603517e656 100644
--- a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/BaseButton.tsx
+++ b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/BaseButton.tsx
@@ -541,6 +541,7 @@ export class BaseButton extends BaseComponent<IBaseButtonProps, IBaseButtonState
             data-is-focusable={ true }
             onClick={ !disabled && !primaryDisabled ? this._onSplitButtonPrimaryClick : undefined }
             tabIndex={ !disabled ? 0 : undefined }
+            aria-roledescription={ buttonProps['aria-roledescription'] }
           >
             <span
               style={ { 'display': 'flex' } }
diff --git a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/examples/Button.Split.Example.tsx b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/examples/Button.Split.Example.tsx
index d8f983ab5364d..a56168c495da3 100644
--- a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/examples/Button.Split.Example.tsx
+++ b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/Button/examples/Button.Split.Example.tsx
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ export class ButtonSplitExample extends React.Component<IButtonProps> {
             onClick={ alertClicked }
             split={ true }
             splitButtonAriaLabel={ 'See 2 sample options' }
+            aria-roledescription={ 'split button' }
             style={ { height: '35px' } }
             menuProps={ {
               items: [
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@ export class ButtonSplitExample extends React.Component<IButtonProps> {
             text='Create account'
             onClick={ alertClicked }
             split={ true }
+            aria-roledescription={ 'split button' }
             style={ { height: '35px' } }
             menuProps={ {
               items: [
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ export class ButtonSplitExample extends React.Component<IButtonProps> {
             text='Create account'
             onClick={ alertClicked }
             split={ true }
+            aria-roledescription={ 'split button' }
             style={ { height: '35px' } }
             menuProps={ {
               items: [
@@ -115,6 +118,7 @@ export class ButtonSplitExample extends React.Component<IButtonProps> {
             text='Create account'
             onClick={ alertClicked }
             split={ true }
+            aria-roledescription={ 'split button' }
             style={ { height: '35px' } }
             menuProps={ {
               items: [
@@ -154,6 +158,7 @@ export class ButtonSplitCustomExample extends React.Component<IButtonProps> {
           text='Create account'
           onClick={ alertClicked }
           split={ true }
+          aria-roledescription={ 'split button' }
           styles={ customSplitButtonStyles }
           menuProps={ {
             items: [
diff --git a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/ContextualMenuSplitButton.tsx b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/ContextualMenuSplitButton.tsx
index e53d8170da402..08d61fe446a31 100644
--- a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/ContextualMenuSplitButton.tsx
+++ b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/ContextualMenuSplitButton.tsx
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ export class ContextualMenuSplitButton extends ContextualMenuItemWrapper {
             onTouchStart={ this._onTouchStart }
             tabIndex={ 0 }
             data-is-focusable={ true }
+            aria-roledescription={ item['aria-roledescription'] }
           >
             { this._renderSplitPrimaryButton(item, classNames, index, hasCheckmarks!, hasIcons!) }
             { this._renderSplitDivider(item) }
diff --git a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.deprecated.test.tsx.snap b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.deprecated.test.tsx.snap
index c23ca49d8ef22..8abebd8a4361f 100644
--- a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.deprecated.test.tsx.snap
+++ b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.deprecated.test.tsx.snap
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ exports[`ContextualMenuSplitButton creates a normal split button renders the con
   aria-haspopup={true}
   aria-label={undefined}
   aria-posinset={1}
+  aria-roledescription={undefined}
   aria-setsize={1}
   className="splitContainer"
   data-is-focusable={true}
diff --git a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.test.tsx.snap b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.test.tsx.snap
index c23ca49d8ef22..8abebd8a4361f 100644
--- a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.test.tsx.snap
+++ b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/ContextualMenuItemWrapper/__snapshots__/ContextualMenuSplitButton.test.tsx.snap
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ exports[`ContextualMenuSplitButton creates a normal split button renders the con
   aria-haspopup={true}
   aria-label={undefined}
   aria-posinset={1}
+  aria-roledescription={undefined}
   aria-setsize={1}
   className="splitContainer"
   data-is-focusable={true}
diff --git a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/examples/ContextualMenu.Submenu.Example.tsx b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/examples/ContextualMenu.Submenu.Example.tsx
index 83b156d817fad..fb4d2b24bd548 100644
--- a/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/examples/ContextualMenu.Submenu.Example.tsx
+++ b/packages/office-ui-fabric-react/src/components/ContextualMenu/examples/ContextualMenu.Submenu.Example.tsx
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ export class ContextualMenuSubmenuExample extends React.Component<any, IContextu
                 key: 'shareSplit',
                 onClick: () => alert('Split buttons!'),
                 split: true,
+                'aria-roledescription': 'split button',
                 subMenuProps: {
                   items: [
                     {