diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index c8e3f05d5c268a..cd36586ee3b3ac 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -742,7 +742,7 @@ Buffer.prototype.compare = function compare(target,
 // - buffer - a Buffer to search
 // - val - a string, Buffer, or number
 // - byteOffset - an index into `buffer`; will be clamped to an int32
-// - encoding - an optional encoding, relevant is val is a string
+// - encoding - an optional encoding, relevant if val is a string
 // - dir - true for indexOf, false for lastIndexOf
 function bidirectionalIndexOf(buffer, val, byteOffset, encoding, dir) {
   if (typeof byteOffset === 'string') {