diff --git a/grep.1 b/grep.1
index a44f015..bb43a2c 100644
--- a/grep.1
+++ b/grep.1
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ Select lines which do
 .B not
 Match the pattern.
 .It Fl w
-The expression is searched for as a word (as if surrounded by '[[:<:]]' and '[[:>:]]').
+The expression is searched for as a word (as if surrounded by '\<' and '\>').
 .It Fl x
 Consider only input lines that use all characters in the line excluding the terminating <newline> to
 match an entire fixed string or regular expression to be matching lines.