diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index c9e990bf1..309088707 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Charles Cloud
 Charles Machalow
 Charnjit SiNGH (CCSJ)
 Cheuk Ting Ho
+Chris Mahoney
 Chris Lamb
 Chris NeJame
 Chris Rose
diff --git a/changelog/11031.trivial.rst b/changelog/11031.trivial.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fad2cf24d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/11031.trivial.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Enhanced the CLI flag for ``-c`` to now include ``--config-file`` to make it clear that this flag applies to the usage of a custom config file.
diff --git a/doc/en/reference/reference.rst b/doc/en/reference/reference.rst
index 6a5512cc1..7107218b3 100644
--- a/doc/en/reference/reference.rst
+++ b/doc/en/reference/reference.rst
@@ -1918,7 +1918,8 @@ All the command-line flags can be obtained by running ``pytest --help``::
       --strict-markers      Markers not registered in the `markers` section of
                             the configuration file raise errors
       --strict              (Deprecated) alias to --strict-markers
-      -c file               Load configuration from `file` instead of trying to
+      -c, --config-file FILE
+                            Load configuration from `FILE` instead of trying to
                             locate one of the implicit configuration files
       --continue-on-collection-errors
                             Force test execution even if collection errors occur
diff --git a/src/_pytest/main.py b/src/_pytest/main.py
index 5f8ac4689..c9a495380 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/main.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/main.py
@@ -122,11 +122,12 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser: Parser) -> None:
     )
     group._addoption(
         "-c",
-        metavar="file",
+        "--config-file",
+        metavar="FILE",
         type=str,
         dest="inifilename",
-        help="Load configuration from `file` instead of trying to locate one of the "
-        "implicit configuration files",
+        help="Load configuration from `FILE` instead of trying to locate one of the "
+        "implicit configuration files.",
     )
     group._addoption(
         "--continue-on-collection-errors",
diff --git a/testing/test_config.py b/testing/test_config.py
index 6754cd15b..1291e85f9 100644
--- a/testing/test_config.py
+++ b/testing/test_config.py
@@ -514,6 +514,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         )
         config = pytester.parseconfig("-c", "custom.ini")
         assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
+        config = pytester.parseconfig("--config-file", "custom.ini")
+        assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
 
         pytester.makefile(
             ".cfg",
@@ -524,6 +526,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         )
         config = pytester.parseconfig("-c", "custom_tool_pytest_section.cfg")
         assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
+        config = pytester.parseconfig("--config-file", "custom_tool_pytest_section.cfg")
+        assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
 
         pytester.makefile(
             ".toml",
@@ -536,6 +540,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         )
         config = pytester.parseconfig("-c", "custom.toml")
         assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
+        config = pytester.parseconfig("--config-file", "custom.toml")
+        assert config.getini("custom") == "1"
 
     def test_absolute_win32_path(self, pytester: Pytester) -> None:
         temp_ini_file = pytester.makefile(
@@ -550,6 +556,8 @@ class TestConfigCmdlineParsing:
         temp_ini_file_norm = normpath(str(temp_ini_file))
         ret = pytest.main(["-c", temp_ini_file_norm])
         assert ret == ExitCode.OK
+        ret = pytest.main(["--config-file", temp_ini_file_norm])
+        assert ret == ExitCode.OK
 
 
 class TestConfigAPI:
@@ -1907,6 +1915,9 @@ class TestSetupCfg:
         with pytest.raises(pytest.fail.Exception):
             pytester.runpytest("-c", "custom.cfg")
 
+        with pytest.raises(pytest.fail.Exception):
+            pytester.runpytest("--config-file", "custom.cfg")
+
 
 class TestPytestPluginsVariable:
     def test_pytest_plugins_in_non_top_level_conftest_unsupported(