diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 587a503a6..77bf74178 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ Any configuration options that can be set via the command line can also be speci
     ],
     "cache": true,
     "all": true,
-    "temp-directory": "./alternative-tmp",
+    "temp-dir": "./alternative-tmp",
     "report-dir": "./alternative"
   }
 }
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index e7fde82bc..52bcc8bba 100755
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ function NYC (config) {
   this.config = config
 
   this.subprocessBin = config.subprocessBin || path.resolve(__dirname, './bin/nyc.js')
-  this._tempDirectory = config.tempDirectory || './.nyc_output'
+  this._tempDirectory = config.tempDir || config.tempDirectory || './.nyc_output'
   this._instrumenterLib = require(config.instrumenter || './lib/instrumenters/istanbul')
   this._reportDir = config.reportDir || 'coverage'
   this._sourceMap = typeof config.sourceMap === 'boolean' ? config.sourceMap : true
diff --git a/lib/commands/merge.js b/lib/commands/merge.js
index f660092d1..11cb7bd1a 100644
--- a/lib/commands/merge.js
+++ b/lib/commands/merge.js
@@ -24,10 +24,14 @@ exports.builder = function (yargs) {
       type: 'text',
       default: 'coverage.json'
     })
-    .option('temp-directory', {
+    .option('temp-dir', {
+      alias: 't',
       describe: 'directory to read raw coverage information from',
       default: './.nyc_output'
     })
+    .option('temp-directory', {
+      hidden: true
+    })
     .example('$0 merge ./out coverage.json', 'merge together reports in ./out and output as coverage.json')
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/commands/report.js b/lib/commands/report.js
index ff89da3f8..419134a1f 100644
--- a/lib/commands/report.js
+++ b/lib/commands/report.js
@@ -20,10 +20,14 @@ exports.builder = function (yargs) {
       describe: 'directory to output coverage reports in',
       default: 'coverage'
     })
-    .option('temp-directory', {
+    .option('temp-dir', {
+      alias: 't',
       describe: 'directory to read raw coverage information from',
       default: './.nyc_output'
     })
+    .option('temp-directory', {
+      hidden: true
+    })
     .option('show-process-tree', {
       describe: 'display the tree of spawned processes',
       default: false,
diff --git a/lib/config-util.js b/lib/config-util.js
index d8b8cf618..19bbeec54 100644
--- a/lib/config-util.js
+++ b/lib/config-util.js
@@ -222,11 +222,16 @@ Config.buildYargs = function (cwd) {
       description: 'specify a different .nycrc path',
       global: false
     })
-    .option('temp-directory', {
+    .option('temp-dir', {
+      alias: 't',
       describe: 'directory to output raw coverage information to',
       default: './.nyc_output',
       global: false
     })
+    .option('temp-directory', {
+      hidden: true,
+      global: false
+    })
     .option('skip-empty', {
       describe: 'don\'t show empty files (no lines of code) in report',
       default: false,
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8c83adc55..806f464a0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
     "build": "node ./build-tests",
     "instrument": "node ./build-self-coverage.js",
     "test-integration": "tap -t120 --no-cov -b ./test/build/*.js && mocha --timeout=15000 ./test/nyc-bin.js",
-    "test-mocha": "node ./bin/nyc --no-clean --silent --temp-directory=./.self_coverage mocha ./test/nyc.js ./test/process-args.js",
-    "report": "node ./bin/nyc  --temp-directory ./.self_coverage/ -r text -r lcov report",
+    "test-mocha": "node ./bin/nyc --no-clean --silent --temp-dir=./.self_coverage mocha ./test/nyc.js ./test/process-args.js",
+    "report": "node ./bin/nyc  --temp-dir ./.self_coverage/ -r text -r lcov report",
     "release": "standard-version"
   },
   "bin": {