diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axis.py b/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
index b3a7ffcc3ca3..493a33e963c3 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axis.py
@@ -1245,7 +1245,7 @@ def get_minorticklabels(self):
 
     def get_ticklabels(self, minor=False, which=None):
         """
-        Get the x tick labels as a list of :class:`~matplotlib.text.Text`
+        Get the tick labels as a list of :class:`~matplotlib.text.Text`
         instances.
 
         Parameters