diff --git a/src/OpenSSL/SSL.py b/src/OpenSSL/SSL.py
index 5dbe52b..ffb1998 100644
--- a/src/OpenSSL/SSL.py
+++ b/src/OpenSSL/SSL.py
@@ -820,7 +820,7 @@
         cipher_list = _text_to_bytes_and_warn("cipher_list", cipher_list)
 
         if not isinstance(cipher_list, bytes):
-            raise TypeError("cipher_list must be a bytes string.")
+            raise TypeError("cipher_list must be a byte string.")
 
         _openssl_assert(
             _lib.SSL_CTX_set_cipher_list(self._context, cipher_list)
diff --git a/tests/test_ssl.py b/tests/test_ssl.py
index 98b9688..433fa2c 100644
--- a/tests/test_ssl.py
+++ b/tests/test_ssl.py
@@ -362,9 +362,9 @@
     ])
     def test_set_cipher_list(self, context, cipher_string):
         """
-        :meth:`Context.set_cipher_list` accepts both :py:obj:`bytes` naming the
-        ciphers which connections created with the context object will be able
-        to choose from.
+        :meth:`Context.set_cipher_list` accepts both byte and unicode strings
+        for naming the ciphers which connections created with the context
+        object will be able to choose from.
         """
         context.set_cipher_list(cipher_string)
         conn = Connection(context, None)