diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner.go
index fef87171bc..f2f6fd2bb6 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner.go
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ func (s *scanner) isIdentRune(c rune, first bool) bool {
 			s.errorf("identifier cannot begin with digit %#U", c)
 		}
 	case c >= utf8.RuneSelf:
-		s.errorf("invalid identifier character %#U", c)
+		s.errorf("invalid character %#U in identifier", c)
 	default:
 		return false
 	}
@@ -612,13 +612,13 @@ func (s *scanner) rune() {
 		if r == '\n' {
 			s.ungetr() // assume newline is not part of literal
 			if !s.bad {
-				s.errorf("newline in character literal")
+				s.errorf("newline in rune literal")
 			}
 			break
 		}
 		if r < 0 {
 			if !s.bad {
-				s.errorAtf(0, "invalid character literal (missing closing ')")
+				s.errorAtf(0, "rune literal not terminated")
 			}
 			break
 		}
@@ -626,9 +626,9 @@ func (s *scanner) rune() {
 
 	if !s.bad {
 		if n == 0 {
-			s.errorf("empty character literal or unescaped ' in character literal")
+			s.errorf("empty rune literal or unescaped '")
 		} else if n != 1 {
-			s.errorAtf(0, "invalid character literal (more than one character)")
+			s.errorAtf(0, "more than one character in rune literal")
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -815,7 +815,7 @@ func (s *scanner) escape(quote rune) {
 		if c < 0 {
 			return // complain in caller about EOF
 		}
-		s.errorf("unknown escape sequence")
+		s.errorf("unknown escape")
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -836,7 +836,7 @@ func (s *scanner) escape(quote rune) {
 			if base == 8 {
 				kind = "octal"
 			}
-			s.errorf("non-%s character in escape sequence: %c", kind, c)
+			s.errorf("invalid character %q in %s escape", c, kind)
 			s.ungetr()
 			return
 		}
@@ -847,11 +847,11 @@ func (s *scanner) escape(quote rune) {
 	s.ungetr()
 
 	if x > max && base == 8 {
-		s.errorf("octal escape value > 255: %d", x)
+		s.errorf("octal escape value %d > 255", x)
 		return
 	}
 
 	if x > max || 0xD800 <= x && x < 0xE000 /* surrogate range */ {
-		s.errorf("escape sequence is invalid Unicode code point %#U", x)
+		s.errorf("escape is invalid Unicode code point %#U", x)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner_test.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner_test.go
index 612c59507e..f683341650 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/syntax/scanner_test.go
@@ -596,10 +596,10 @@ func TestScanErrors(t *testing.T) {
 		{"foo\n\n\xff    ", "invalid UTF-8 encoding", 2, 0},
 
 		// token-level errors
-		{"\u00BD" /* ½ */, "invalid identifier character U+00BD '½'", 0, 0},
-		{"\U0001d736\U0001d737\U0001d738_½" /* 𝜶𝜷𝜸_½ */, "invalid identifier character U+00BD '½'", 0, 13 /* byte offset */},
+		{"\u00BD" /* ½ */, "invalid character U+00BD '½' in identifier", 0, 0},
+		{"\U0001d736\U0001d737\U0001d738_½" /* 𝜶𝜷𝜸_½ */, "invalid character U+00BD '½' in identifier", 0, 13 /* byte offset */},
 		{"\U0001d7d8" /* 𝟘 */, "identifier cannot begin with digit U+1D7D8 '𝟘'", 0, 0},
-		{"foo\U0001d7d8_½" /* foo𝟘_½ */, "invalid identifier character U+00BD '½'", 0, 8 /* byte offset */},
+		{"foo\U0001d7d8_½" /* foo𝟘_½ */, "invalid character U+00BD '½' in identifier", 0, 8 /* byte offset */},
 
 		{"x + ~y", "invalid character U+007E '~'", 0, 4},
 		{"foo$bar = 0", "invalid character U+0024 '$'", 0, 3},
@@ -608,20 +608,20 @@ func TestScanErrors(t *testing.T) {
 		{"0123456789e0 /*\nfoobar", "comment not terminated", 0, 13}, // valid float constant
 		{"var a, b = 09, 07\n", "invalid digit '9' in octal literal", 0, 12},
 
-		{`''`, "empty character literal or unescaped ' in character literal", 0, 1},
-		{"'\n", "newline in character literal", 0, 1},
-		{`'\`, "invalid character literal (missing closing ')", 0, 0},
-		{`'\'`, "invalid character literal (missing closing ')", 0, 0},
-		{`'\x`, "invalid character literal (missing closing ')", 0, 0},
-		{`'\x'`, "non-hex character in escape sequence: '", 0, 3},
-		{`'\y'`, "unknown escape sequence", 0, 2},
-		{`'\x0'`, "non-hex character in escape sequence: '", 0, 4},
-		{`'\00'`, "non-octal character in escape sequence: '", 0, 4},
+		{`''`, "empty rune literal or unescaped '", 0, 1},
+		{"'\n", "newline in rune literal", 0, 1},
+		{`'\`, "rune literal not terminated", 0, 0},
+		{`'\'`, "rune literal not terminated", 0, 0},
+		{`'\x`, "rune literal not terminated", 0, 0},
+		{`'\x'`, "invalid character '\\'' in hex escape", 0, 3},
+		{`'\y'`, "unknown escape", 0, 2},
+		{`'\x0'`, "invalid character '\\'' in hex escape", 0, 4},
+		{`'\00'`, "invalid character '\\'' in octal escape", 0, 4},
 		{`'\377' /*`, "comment not terminated", 0, 7}, // valid octal escape
-		{`'\378`, "non-octal character in escape sequence: 8", 0, 4},
-		{`'\400'`, "octal escape value > 255: 256", 0, 5},
-		{`'xx`, "invalid character literal (missing closing ')", 0, 0},
-		{`'xx'`, "invalid character literal (more than one character)", 0, 0},
+		{`'\378`, "invalid character '8' in octal escape", 0, 4},
+		{`'\400'`, "octal escape value 256 > 255", 0, 5},
+		{`'xx`, "rune literal not terminated", 0, 0},
+		{`'xx'`, "more than one character in rune literal", 0, 0},
 
 		{"\n   \"foo\n", "newline in string", 1, 7},
 		{`"`, "string not terminated", 0, 0},
@@ -633,20 +633,20 @@ func TestScanErrors(t *testing.T) {
 		{`"\`, "string not terminated", 0, 0},
 		{`"\"`, "string not terminated", 0, 0},
 		{`"\x`, "string not terminated", 0, 0},
-		{`"\x"`, "non-hex character in escape sequence: \"", 0, 3},
-		{`"\y"`, "unknown escape sequence", 0, 2},
-		{`"\x0"`, "non-hex character in escape sequence: \"", 0, 4},
-		{`"\00"`, "non-octal character in escape sequence: \"", 0, 4},
+		{`"\x"`, "invalid character '\"' in hex escape", 0, 3},
+		{`"\y"`, "unknown escape", 0, 2},
+		{`"\x0"`, "invalid character '\"' in hex escape", 0, 4},
+		{`"\00"`, "invalid character '\"' in octal escape", 0, 4},
 		{`"\377" /*`, "comment not terminated", 0, 7}, // valid octal escape
-		{`"\378"`, "non-octal character in escape sequence: 8", 0, 4},
-		{`"\400"`, "octal escape value > 255: 256", 0, 5},
+		{`"\378"`, "invalid character '8' in octal escape", 0, 4},
+		{`"\400"`, "octal escape value 256 > 255", 0, 5},
 
-		{`s := "foo\z"`, "unknown escape sequence", 0, 10},
-		{`s := "foo\z00\nbar"`, "unknown escape sequence", 0, 10},
+		{`s := "foo\z"`, "unknown escape", 0, 10},
+		{`s := "foo\z00\nbar"`, "unknown escape", 0, 10},
 		{`"\x`, "string not terminated", 0, 0},
-		{`"\x"`, "non-hex character in escape sequence: \"", 0, 3},
-		{`var s string = "\x"`, "non-hex character in escape sequence: \"", 0, 18},
-		{`return "\Uffffffff"`, "escape sequence is invalid Unicode code point U+FFFFFFFF", 0, 18},
+		{`"\x"`, "invalid character '\"' in hex escape", 0, 3},
+		{`var s string = "\x"`, "invalid character '\"' in hex escape", 0, 18},
+		{`return "\Uffffffff"`, "escape is invalid Unicode code point U+FFFFFFFF", 0, 18},
 
 		{"0b.0", "invalid radix point in binary literal", 0, 2},
 		{"0x.p0\n", "hexadecimal literal has no digits", 0, 3},
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/bug169.go b/test/fixedbugs/bug169.go
index f63c2f3e1a..62ab7c2fa1 100644
--- a/test/fixedbugs/bug169.go
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/bug169.go
@@ -5,6 +5,6 @@
 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
 package main
-var x = ''';		// ERROR "char"
+var x = ''';		// ERROR "char|rune"
 
 
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue15611.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue15611.go
index 6a627d9b5e..3634475418 100644
--- a/test/fixedbugs/issue15611.go
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue15611.go
@@ -8,13 +8,13 @@ package p
 
 // These error messages are for the invalid literals on lines 19 and 20:
 
-// ERROR "newline in character literal"
-// ERROR "invalid character literal \(missing closing '\)"
+// ERROR "newline in character literal|newline in rune literal"
+// ERROR "invalid character literal \(missing closing '\)|rune literal not terminated"
 
 const (
-	_ = ''     // ERROR "empty character literal or unescaped ' in character literal"
+	_ = ''     // ERROR "empty character literal or unescaped ' in character literal|empty rune literal"
 	_ = 'f'
-	_ = 'foo'  // ERROR "invalid character literal \(more than one character\)"
+	_ = 'foo'  // ERROR "invalid character literal \(more than one character\)|more than one character in rune literal"
 //line issue15611.go:11
 	_ = '
 	_ = '
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue32133.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue32133.go
index 13e4658a0f..f3cca87a72 100644
--- a/test/fixedbugs/issue32133.go
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue32133.go
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ package p
 
 // errors for the //line-adjusted code below
 // ERROR "newline in string"
-// ERROR "newline in character literal"
+// ERROR "newline in character literal|newline in rune literal"
 // ERROR "newline in string"
 // ERROR "string not terminated"