diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml
index 843d5c88805dcab4b1a04dc35f5b3e710486a016..1d1924bc8df24342b116b56823f638cbc007b6f9 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/wal.sgml
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@
   </para>
 
   <para>
-   The server's background writer process automatically performs
+   The server's checkpointer process automatically performs
    a checkpoint every so often.  A checkpoint is created every <xref
    linkend="guc-checkpoint-segments"> log segments, or every <xref
    linkend="guc-checkpoint-timeout"> seconds, whichever comes first.