diff --git a/doc/nethack.6 b/doc/nethack.6
index 605bb56ff..7e0ddde02 100644
--- a/doc/nethack.6
+++ b/doc/nethack.6
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ You can specify either the male or female name for the character role, or
 the first three characters of the role as an abbreviation.
 .\" .B "\-p @"
 .\" has been retained to explicitly request that a random role be chosen.
-.\" It may need to be quoted with a backslash (\\@) if @
+.\" It may need to be quoted with a backslash (\e@) if @
 .\" is the "kill" character (see "stty") for the terminal, in order
 .\" to prevent the current input line from being cleared.
 .PP