diff --git a/index.d.ts b/index.d.ts
index 8490672664..065f34bd79 100644
--- a/index.d.ts
+++ b/index.d.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ export interface AxiosRequestConfig {
   paramsSerializer?: (params: any) => string;
   data?: any;
   timeout?: number;
+  timeoutErrorMessage?: string;
   withCredentials?: boolean;
   adapter?: AxiosAdapter;
   auth?: AxiosBasicCredentials;
diff --git a/lib/adapters/xhr.js b/lib/adapters/xhr.js
index 519e3c3745..7e8668dade 100644
--- a/lib/adapters/xhr.js
+++ b/lib/adapters/xhr.js
@@ -88,7 +88,11 @@ module.exports = function xhrAdapter(config) {
 
     // Handle timeout
     request.ontimeout = function handleTimeout() {
-      reject(createError('timeout of ' + config.timeout + 'ms exceeded', config, 'ECONNABORTED',
+      var timeoutErrorMessage = 'timeout of ' + config.timeout + 'ms exceeded';
+      if (config.timeoutErrorMessage) {
+        timeoutErrorMessage = config.timeoutErrorMessage;
+      }
+      reject(createError(timeoutErrorMessage, config, 'ECONNABORTED',
         request));
 
       // Clean up request