diff --git a/docs/html/user_guide.rst b/docs/html/user_guide.rst
index 059fd7cdc35..aa5d41c8cfe 100644
--- a/docs/html/user_guide.rst
+++ b/docs/html/user_guide.rst
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ in many corporate environments requires an outbound HTTP proxy server.
pip can be configured to connect through a proxy server in various ways:
* using the ``--proxy`` command-line option to specify a proxy in the form
- ``[user:passwd@]proxy.server:port``
+ ``scheme://[user:passwd@]proxy.server:port``
* using ``proxy`` in a :ref:`config-file`
* by setting the standard environment-variables ``http_proxy``, ``https_proxy``
and ``no_proxy``.
diff --git a/news/10951.doc.rst b/news/10951.doc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f132abd111f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/10951.doc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add ``scheme://`` requirement to ``--proxy`` option's description
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py b/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py
index 71b1d190691..64bd47d2b68 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/cli/cmdoptions.py
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ class PipOption(Option):
dest="proxy",
type="str",
default="",
- help="Specify a proxy in the form [user:passwd@]proxy.server:port.",
+ help="Specify a proxy in the form scheme://[user:passwd@]proxy.server:port.",
)
retries: Callable[..., Option] = partial(