diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 4987fe0b7e5a563f9077b247084980e658399065..c826fabf18df4f2be3387e2b89e75b801261ec63 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -5113,7 +5113,7 @@ qemuBuildCommandLine(virConnectPtr conn,
             } else {
                 database = VIR_DOMAIN_SMARTCARD_DEFAULT_DATABASE;
             }
-            virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",database=%s", database);
+            virBufferAsprintf(&opt, ",db=%s", database);
             break;
 
         case VIR_DOMAIN_SMARTCARD_TYPE_PASSTHROUGH:
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smartcard-host-certificates.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smartcard-host-certificates.args
index 8b4be3a6c0d120f6a9472b110ea89523dc4b9eac..b7b14c700e73340728b5167ecfc55114b5aa1326 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smartcard-host-certificates.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-smartcard-host-certificates.args
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ socket,id=charmonitor,path=/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait -mon \
 chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=readline -no-acpi -boot c -device \
 usb-ccid,id=ccid0 -usb -device \
 ccid-card-emulated,backend=certificates,cert1=cert1,cert2=cert2,cert3=cert3\
-,database=/etc/pki/nssdb,id=smartcard0,bus=ccid0.0 -device \
+,db=/etc/pki/nssdb,id=smartcard0,bus=ccid0.0 -device \
 virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3