diff --git a/Parser/tokenizer.c b/Parser/tokenizer.c
index 707e76291c4..a49e9f02a34 100644
--- a/Parser/tokenizer.c
+++ b/Parser/tokenizer.c
@@ -943,7 +943,7 @@ tok_backup(register struct tok_state *tok, register int c)
 {
 	if (c != EOF) {
 		if (--tok->cur < tok->buf)
-			Py_FatalError("tok_backup: begin of buffer");
+			Py_FatalError("tok_backup: beginning of buffer");
 		if (*tok->cur != c)
 			*tok->cur = c;
 	}