diff --git a/mercurial/merge.py b/mercurial/merge.py
--- a/mercurial/merge.py
+++ b/mercurial/merge.py
@@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ def update(repo, node, branchmerge, forc
                                  hint=_("use 'hg status' to list changes"))
             for s in sorted(wc.substate):
                 if wc.sub(s).dirty():
-                    raise util.Abort(_("outstanding uncommitted changes in "
+                    raise util.Abort(_("uncommitted changes in "
                                        "subrepository '%s'") % s)
 
         elif not overwrite:
diff --git a/tests/test-merge-subrepos.t b/tests/test-merge-subrepos.t
--- a/tests/test-merge-subrepos.t
+++ b/tests/test-merge-subrepos.t
@@ -21,5 +21,5 @@
 Should fail, since there are added files to subrepo:
 
   $ hg merge
-  abort: outstanding uncommitted changes in subrepository 'subrepo'
+  abort: uncommitted changes in subrepository 'subrepo'
   [255]