diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index ee90abcc932..d844e9b1699 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -966,7 +966,7 @@ bool AppInitParameterInteraction(const ArgsManager& args, bool use_syscall_sandb
 
     peer_connect_timeout = args.GetIntArg("-peertimeout", DEFAULT_PEER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT);
     if (peer_connect_timeout <= 0) {
-        return InitError(Untranslated("peertimeout cannot be configured with a negative value."));
+        return InitError(Untranslated("peertimeout must be a positive integer."));
     }
 
     if (args.IsArgSet("-minrelaytxfee")) {