diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/contour.py b/lib/matplotlib/contour.py
index e3c741bed91d..8393a4b2b066 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/contour.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/contour.py
@@ -1679,7 +1679,7 @@ def _initialize_x_y(self, z):
 
         Returns
         -------
-        :class:`~matplotlib.contour.QuadContourSet`
+        c : `~.contour.QuadContourSet`
 
         Other Parameters
         ----------------