diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-user.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-user.c
index d9ce0501b2..9b623ecf4a 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-user.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-user.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 
 #define VHOST_MEMORY_BASELINE_NREGIONS    8
 #define VHOST_USER_F_PROTOCOL_FEATURES 30
-#define VHOST_USER_SLAVE_MAX_FDS     8
+#define VHOST_USER_BACKEND_MAX_FDS     8
 
 /*
  * Set maximum number of RAM slots supported to
@@ -71,12 +71,12 @@ enum VhostUserProtocolFeature {
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_RARP = 2,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_REPLY_ACK = 3,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU = 4,
-    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ = 5,
+    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_REQ = 5,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CROSS_ENDIAN = 6,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CRYPTO_SESSION = 7,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_PAGEFAULT = 8,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CONFIG = 9,
-    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_SEND_FD = 10,
+    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_SEND_FD = 10,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_HOST_NOTIFIER = 11,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_INFLIGHT_SHMFD = 12,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_RESET_DEVICE = 13,
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ typedef enum VhostUserRequest {
     VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENABLE = 18,
     VHOST_USER_SEND_RARP = 19,
     VHOST_USER_NET_SET_MTU = 20,
-    VHOST_USER_SET_SLAVE_REQ_FD = 21,
+    VHOST_USER_SET_BACKEND_REQ_FD = 21,
     VHOST_USER_IOTLB_MSG = 22,
     VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENDIAN = 23,
     VHOST_USER_GET_CONFIG = 24,
@@ -134,11 +134,11 @@ typedef enum VhostUserRequest {
 } VhostUserRequest;
 
 typedef enum VhostUserSlaveRequest {
-    VHOST_USER_SLAVE_NONE = 0,
-    VHOST_USER_SLAVE_IOTLB_MSG = 1,
-    VHOST_USER_SLAVE_CONFIG_CHANGE_MSG = 2,
-    VHOST_USER_SLAVE_VRING_HOST_NOTIFIER_MSG = 3,
-    VHOST_USER_SLAVE_MAX
+    VHOST_USER_BACKEND_NONE = 0,
+    VHOST_USER_BACKEND_IOTLB_MSG = 1,
+    VHOST_USER_BACKEND_CONFIG_CHANGE_MSG = 2,
+    VHOST_USER_BACKEND_VRING_HOST_NOTIFIER_MSG = 3,
+    VHOST_USER_BACKEND_MAX
 }  VhostUserSlaveRequest;
 
 typedef struct VhostUserMemoryRegion {
@@ -1722,13 +1722,13 @@ static gboolean slave_read(QIOChannel *ioc, GIOCondition condition,
     }
 
     switch (hdr.request) {
-    case VHOST_USER_SLAVE_IOTLB_MSG:
+    case VHOST_USER_BACKEND_IOTLB_MSG:
         ret = vhost_backend_handle_iotlb_msg(dev, &payload.iotlb);
         break;
-    case VHOST_USER_SLAVE_CONFIG_CHANGE_MSG :
+    case VHOST_USER_BACKEND_CONFIG_CHANGE_MSG:
         ret = vhost_user_slave_handle_config_change(dev);
         break;
-    case VHOST_USER_SLAVE_VRING_HOST_NOTIFIER_MSG:
+    case VHOST_USER_BACKEND_VRING_HOST_NOTIFIER_MSG:
         ret = vhost_user_slave_handle_vring_host_notifier(dev, &payload.area,
                                                           fd ? fd[0] : -1);
         break;
@@ -1780,7 +1780,7 @@ fdcleanup:
 static int vhost_setup_slave_channel(struct vhost_dev *dev)
 {
     VhostUserMsg msg = {
-        .hdr.request = VHOST_USER_SET_SLAVE_REQ_FD,
+        .hdr.request = VHOST_USER_SET_BACKEND_REQ_FD,
         .hdr.flags = VHOST_USER_VERSION,
     };
     struct vhost_user *u = dev->opaque;
@@ -1791,7 +1791,7 @@ static int vhost_setup_slave_channel(struct vhost_dev *dev)
     QIOChannel *ioc;
 
     if (!virtio_has_feature(dev->protocol_features,
-                            VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ)) {
+                            VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_REQ)) {
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -2147,7 +2147,7 @@ static int vhost_user_backend_init(struct vhost_dev *dev, void *opaque,
 
         if (virtio_has_feature(features, VIRTIO_F_IOMMU_PLATFORM) &&
                 !(virtio_has_feature(dev->protocol_features,
-                    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ) &&
+                    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_REQ) &&
                  virtio_has_feature(dev->protocol_features,
                     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_REPLY_ACK))) {
             error_setg(errp, "IOMMU support requires reply-ack and "
diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio-qmp.c b/hw/virtio/virtio-qmp.c
index e4d4bece2d..b70148aba9 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio-qmp.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio-qmp.c
@@ -42,12 +42,12 @@ enum VhostUserProtocolFeature {
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_RARP = 2,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_REPLY_ACK = 3,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU = 4,
-    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ = 5,
+    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_REQ = 5,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CROSS_ENDIAN = 6,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CRYPTO_SESSION = 7,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_PAGEFAULT = 8,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CONFIG = 9,
-    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_SEND_FD = 10,
+    VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_SEND_FD = 10,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_HOST_NOTIFIER = 11,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_INFLIGHT_SHMFD = 12,
     VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_RESET_DEVICE = 13,
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ static const qmp_virtio_feature_map_t vhost_user_protocol_map[] = {
             "supported"),
     FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU, \
             "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_NET_MTU: Expose host MTU to guest supported"),
-    FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ, \
-            "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_REQ: Socket fd for back-end initiated "
+    FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_REQ, \
+            "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_REQ: Socket fd for back-end initiated "
             "requests supported"),
     FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CROSS_ENDIAN, \
             "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CROSS_ENDIAN: Endianness of VQs for legacy "
@@ -116,8 +116,8 @@ static const qmp_virtio_feature_map_t vhost_user_protocol_map[] = {
     FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CONFIG, \
             "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_CONFIG: Vhost-user messaging for virtio "
             "device configuration space supported"),
-    FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_SEND_FD, \
-            "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_SLAVE_SEND_FD: Slave fd communication "
+    FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_SEND_FD, \
+            "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_BACKEND_SEND_FD: Slave fd communication "
             "channel supported"),
     FEATURE_ENTRY(VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_HOST_NOTIFIER, \
             "VHOST_USER_PROTOCOL_F_HOST_NOTIFIER: Host notifiers for specified "
