diff --git a/src/uu/csplit/src/csplit.rs b/src/uu/csplit/src/csplit.rs
index 72b33b81f2a..f58121dd2cc 100644
--- a/src/uu/csplit/src/csplit.rs
+++ b/src/uu/csplit/src/csplit.rs
@@ -571,7 +571,7 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
         Ok(csplit(&options, &patterns, stdin.lock())?)
     } else {
         let file = File::open(file_name)
-            .map_err_context(|| format!("cannot access {}", file_name.quote()))?;
+            .map_err_context(|| format!("cannot open {} for reading", file_name.quote()))?;
         Ok(csplit(&options, &patterns, BufReader::new(file))?)
     }
 }