diff --git a/man/binfmt.d.xml b/man/binfmt.d.xml
index 6134b27d03..822e4fb8e1 100644
--- a/man/binfmt.d.xml
+++ b/man/binfmt.d.xml
@@ -44,9 +44,8 @@
     url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.html">binfmt-misc.rst</ulink> documentation
     file for more information on registration of additional binary formats and how to write rules.</para>
 
-    <para>Empty lines and lines beginning with ; and # are ignored.
-    Note that this means you may not use ; and # as delimiter in
-    binary format rules.</para>
+    <para>Empty lines and lines beginning with <literal>;</literal> and <literal>#</literal> are ignored.
+    Note that this means you may not use those symbols as the delimiter in binary format rules.</para>
   </refsect1>
 
   <xi:include href="standard-conf.xml" xpointer="confd" />