diff --git a/lib/Target/SystemZ/AsmParser/SystemZAsmParser.cpp b/lib/Target/SystemZ/AsmParser/SystemZAsmParser.cpp
index a894bea91b6..3923614c89d 100644
--- a/lib/Target/SystemZ/AsmParser/SystemZAsmParser.cpp
+++ b/lib/Target/SystemZ/AsmParser/SystemZAsmParser.cpp
@@ -391,6 +391,9 @@ public:
     : MCTargetAsmParser(Options, sti), Parser(parser) {
     MCAsmParserExtension::Initialize(Parser);
 
+    // Alias the .word directive to .short.
+    parser.addAliasForDirective(".word", ".short");
+
     // Initialize the set of available features.
     setAvailableFeatures(ComputeAvailableFeatures(getSTI().getFeatureBits()));
   }
diff --git a/test/MC/SystemZ/word.s b/test/MC/SystemZ/word.s
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..70f009a1e85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/MC/SystemZ/word.s
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# RUN: llvm-mc -triple s390x-linux-gnu -filetype=obj %s | \
+# RUN: llvm-readobj -s -sd | FileCheck %s
+
+.section word, "aw"
+.word 0xabcd
+
+# CHECK:        Section {
+# CHECK:          Name: word
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Type: SHT_PROGBITS
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Flags [
+# CHECK-NEXT:       SHF_ALLOC
+# CHECK-NEXT:       SHF_WRITE
+# CHECK-NEXT:     ]
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Address: 0x0
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Offset:
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Size: 2
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Link: 0
+# CHECK-NEXT:     Info: 0
+# CHECK-NEXT:     AddressAlignment:
+# CHECK-NEXT:     EntrySize: 0
+# CHECK-NEXT:     SectionData (
+# CHECK-NEXT:       0000: ABCD
+# CHECK-NEXT:     )
+# CHECK-NEXT:   }