diff --git a/src/_handlers.ts b/src/_handlers.ts
index e44e5dc7..6cdefd79 100644
--- a/src/_handlers.ts
+++ b/src/_handlers.ts
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ function defaultErrorHandler(err, req: express.Request, res: express.Response) {
     }
   }
 
-  res.end(`Error occured while trying to proxy: ${host}${req.url}`);
+  res.end(`Error occurred while trying to proxy: ${host}${req.url}`);
 }
 
 function logClose(req, socket, head) {
diff --git a/test/unit/handlers.spec.ts b/test/unit/handlers.spec.ts
index e8d5e195..22a8cfc1 100644
--- a/test/unit/handlers.spec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/handlers.spec.ts
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ describe('default proxy error handler', () => {
 
   it('should end the response and return error message', () => {
     proxyError(mockError, mockReq, mockRes, proxyOptions);
-    expect(errorMessage).toBe('Error occured while trying to proxy: localhost:3000/api');
+    expect(errorMessage).toBe('Error occurred while trying to proxy: localhost:3000/api');
   });
 
   it('should not set the http status code to: 500 if headers have already been sent', () => {
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ describe('default proxy error handler', () => {
   it('should end the response and return error message', () => {
     mockRes.headersSent = true;
     proxyError(mockError, mockReq, mockRes, proxyOptions);
-    expect(errorMessage).toBe('Error occured while trying to proxy: localhost:3000/api');
+    expect(errorMessage).toBe('Error occurred while trying to proxy: localhost:3000/api');
   });
 
   it('should re-throw error from http-proxy when target is missing', () => {