diff --git a/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs b/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
index 9e38ffe7f0dc4..e1d8a4d8c5423 100644
--- a/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
+++ b/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
@@ -1081,11 +1081,12 @@ impl<'a> StringReader<'a> {
             if !self.curr_is('\'') {
                 let last_bpos = self.last_pos;
                 panic!(self.fatal_span_verbose(
-                                   // Byte offsetting here is okay because the
-                                   // character before position `start` is an
-                                   // ascii single quote.
-                                   start - BytePos(1), last_bpos,
-                                   "unterminated character constant".to_string()));
+                        // Byte offsetting here is okay because the
+                        // character before position `start` is an
+                        // ascii single quote.
+                        start - BytePos(1), last_bpos,
+
+                        String::from("character literal may only contain one codepoint")));
             }
             let id = if valid { self.name_from(start) } else { token::intern("0") };
             self.bump(); // advance curr past token
diff --git a/src/test/parse-fail/lex-bad-char-literals.rs b/src/test/parse-fail/lex-bad-char-literals.rs
index 33fb1e14eb3b9..6335632455fbd 100644
--- a/src/test/parse-fail/lex-bad-char-literals.rs
+++ b/src/test/parse-fail/lex-bad-char-literals.rs
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ static s: &'static str =
     "\●" //~ ERROR: unknown character escape
 ;
 
-// THIS MUST BE LAST, since unterminated character constants kill the lexer
+// THIS MUST BE LAST, since it kills the lexer
 
 static c: char =
-    '●  //~ ERROR: unterminated character constant
+    '●  //~ ERROR: character literal may only contain one codepoint
 ;