diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
index f706db64d159..5d05169728aa 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -6051,6 +6051,9 @@ def hist(self, x, bins=None, range=None, density=None, weights=None,
 
             Default is ``False``
 
+        normed : bool, optional
+            Deprecated; use the density keyword argument instead.
+
         Returns
         -------
         n : array or list of arrays
@@ -6108,11 +6111,14 @@ def hist(self, x, bins=None, range=None, density=None, weights=None,
         if histtype == 'barstacked' and not stacked:
             stacked = True
 
+        if normed is not None:
+            warnings.warn("The 'normed' kwarg is deprecated, and has been "
+                          "replaced by the 'density' kwarg.")
         if density is not None and normed is not None:
             raise ValueError("kwargs 'density' and 'normed' cannot be used "
                              "simultaneously. "
                              "Please only use 'density', since 'normed'"
-                             "will be deprecated.")
+                             "is deprecated.")
 
         # basic input validation
         input_empty = np.size(x) == 0