diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
index 31d4696a31..3dd2f92b5e 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ impl Tenant {
 
         ensure!(
             !children_exist,
-            "Cannot detach timeline which has child timelines"
+            "Cannot delete timeline which has child timelines"
         );
         let timeline_entry = match timelines.entry(timeline_id) {
             Entry::Occupied(e) => e,
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_normal_work.py b/test_runner/regress/test_normal_work.py
index 002d697288..73918ee476 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_normal_work.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_normal_work.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def test_normal_work(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, num_timelines: int, num_s
     * restart compute
     * check that the data is there
     * stop compute
-    * detach timeline
+    * detach tenant
 
     Repeat check for several tenants/timelines.
     """
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_tenant_detach.py b/test_runner/regress/test_tenant_detach.py
index f18e6867a9..a310eac1f7 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_tenant_detach.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_tenant_detach.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def test_tenant_detach_smoke(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder):
             break
     # else is called if the loop finished without reaching "break"
     else:
-        pytest.fail(f"could not detach timeline: {last_error}")
+        pytest.fail(f"could not detach tenant: {last_error}")
 
     gc_thread.join(timeout=10)
 
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py b/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py
index 2eea8dd3cc..ac248c1b4b 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_timeline_delete.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def test_timeline_delete(neon_simple_env: NeonEnv):
 
     ps_http = env.pageserver.http_client()
     with pytest.raises(
-        NeonPageserverApiException, match="Cannot detach timeline which has child timelines"
+        NeonPageserverApiException, match="Cannot delete timeline which has child timelines"
     ):
 
         timeline_path = (