diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go
index 180bd70cc1..f49c4dd036 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go
@@ -3667,19 +3667,11 @@ func typecheckdef(n *Node) *Node {
 				lineno = n.Pos
 			}
 
-			switch n.Sym.Name {
-			case "init":
-				// As per the spec at:
-				//  https://golang.org/ref/spec#Program_initialization_and_execution
-				// init cannot be referred to in usercode.
-				// See https://golang.org/issues/8481.
-				yyerror("cannot refer to init functions")
-			default:
-				// Note: adderrorname looks for this string and
-				// adds context about the outer expression
-				yyerror("undefined: %v", n.Sym)
-			}
+			// Note: adderrorname looks for this string and
+			// adds context about the outer expression
+			yyerror("undefined: %v", n.Sym)
 		}
+
 		return n
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue8481.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue8481.go
deleted file mode 100644
index a69296687a..0000000000
--- a/test/fixedbugs/issue8481.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-// errorcheck
-
-// Copyright 2016 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
-// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
-// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
-
-package main
-
-func init() {
-}
-
-func main() {
-	init() // ERROR "cannot refer to init functions"
-}
diff --git a/test/init.go b/test/init.go
index 1855b4ff56..f4689443cf 100644
--- a/test/init.go
+++ b/test/init.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 func main() {
-	init()         // ERROR "cannot refer to init functions"
+	init()         // ERROR "undefined.*init"
 	runtime.init() // ERROR "unexported.*runtime\.init"
-	var _ = init   // ERROR "cannot refer to init functions"
+	var _ = init   // ERROR "undefined.*init"
 }