diff --git a/man/man8/tc.8 b/man/man8/tc.8
index 346c5455..95571a3e 100644
--- a/man/man8/tc.8
+++ b/man/man8/tc.8
@@ -259,6 +259,9 @@ All parameters accept a floating point number, possibly followed by a unit.
 .P
 Bandwidths or rates can be specified in:
 .TP
+bps
+Bytes per second
+.TP
 kbps
 Kilobytes per second
 .TP
@@ -271,8 +274,8 @@ Kilobits per second
 mbit
 Megabits per second
 .TP
-bps or a bare number
-Bytes per second
+bit or a bare number
+Bits per second
 .P
 Amounts of data can be specified in:
 .TP
diff --git a/tc/tc_util.c b/tc/tc_util.c
index 926ed08b..ccf8fa4d 100644
--- a/tc/tc_util.c
+++ b/tc/tc_util.c
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ int get_rate(unsigned *rate, const char *str)
 		return -1;
 
 	if (*p == '\0') {
-		*rate = bps / 8.;	/* assume bytes/sec */
+		*rate = bps / 8.;	/* assume bits/sec */
 		return 0;
 	}