diff --git a/man3/getopt.3 b/man3/getopt.3
index e88321ed0..0d6ad1c54 100644
--- a/man3/getopt.3
+++ b/man3/getopt.3
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ A legitimate option character is any visible one byte
 .BR ascii (7)
 character (for which
 .BR isgraph (3)
-would return nonzero) that is not dash (\(aq\-\(aq) or colon (\(aq:\(aq).
+would return nonzero) that is not \(aq\-\(aq or \(aq:\(aq.
 If such a
 character is followed by a colon, the option requires an argument, so
 .BR getopt ()