diff --git a/lib/obstack.c b/lib/obstack.c
index 639a6b067..0322fb673 100644
--- a/lib/obstack.c
+++ b/lib/obstack.c
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ _obstack_memory_used (h)
 static void
 print_and_abort ()
 {
-  fputs (_("memory exhausted"), stderr);
+  fputs (_("virtual memory exhausted"), stderr);
   fputc ('\n', stderr);
   exit (obstack_exit_failure);
 }