diff --git a/Lib/pathlib.py b/Lib/pathlib.py
index bed05295046e6a..1c08665c6d07f0 100644
--- a/Lib/pathlib.py
+++ b/Lib/pathlib.py
@@ -785,7 +785,7 @@ class PureWindowsPath(PurePath):
 # Filesystem-accessing classes
 
 
-class _VirtualPath(PurePath):
+class _PathBase(PurePath):
     """PurePath subclass for virtual filesystems, such as archives and remote
     storage.
     """
@@ -1379,7 +1379,7 @@ def as_uri(self):
         raise UnsupportedOperation(f"{type(self).__name__}.as_uri()")
 
 
-class Path(_VirtualPath):
+class Path(_PathBase):
     """PurePath subclass that can make system calls.
 
     Path represents a filesystem path but unlike PurePath, also offers
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pathlib.py b/Lib/test/test_pathlib.py
index 28581c493070d3..004ecba3f0b0ef 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pathlib.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pathlib.py
@@ -1573,8 +1573,8 @@ def test_group(self):
 # Tests for the virtual classes.
 #
 
-class VirtualPathTest(PurePathTest):
-    cls = pathlib._VirtualPath
+class PathBaseTest(PurePathTest):
+    cls = pathlib._PathBase
 
     def test_unsupported_operation(self):
         P = self.cls
@@ -1632,9 +1632,9 @@ def test_as_bytes_common(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, bytes, self.cls())
 
 
-class DummyVirtualPathIO(io.BytesIO):
+class DummyPathIO(io.BytesIO):
     """
-    Used by DummyVirtualPath to implement `open('w')`
+    Used by DummyPath to implement `open('w')`
     """
 
     def __init__(self, files, path):
@@ -1647,9 +1647,9 @@ def close(self):
         super().close()
 
 
-class DummyVirtualPath(pathlib._VirtualPath):
+class DummyPath(pathlib._PathBase):
     """
-    Simple implementation of VirtualPath that keeps files and directories in
+    Simple implementation of PathBase that keeps files and directories in
     memory.
     """
     _files = {}
@@ -1691,7 +1691,7 @@ def open(self, mode='r', buffering=-1, encoding=None,
         elif mode == 'w':
             if parent not in self._directories:
                 raise FileNotFoundError(errno.ENOENT, "File not found", parent)
-            stream = DummyVirtualPathIO(self._files, path)
+            stream = DummyPathIO(self._files, path)
             self._files[path] = b''
             self._directories[parent].add(name)
         else:
@@ -1724,10 +1724,10 @@ def mkdir(self, mode=0o777, parents=False, exist_ok=False):
                 raise
 
 
-class DummyVirtualPathTest(unittest.TestCase):
-    """Tests for VirtualPath methods that use stat(), open() and iterdir()."""
+class DummyPathTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Tests for PathBase methods that use stat(), open() and iterdir()."""
 
-    cls = DummyVirtualPath
+    cls = DummyPath
     can_symlink = False
 
     # (BASE)
@@ -2541,7 +2541,7 @@ def test_complex_symlinks_relative_dot_dot(self):
         self._check_complex_symlinks(os.path.join('dirA', '..'))
 
 
-class DummyVirtualPathWithSymlinks(DummyVirtualPath):
+class DummyPathWithSymlinks(DummyPath):
     def readlink(self):
         path = str(self)
         if path in self._symlinks:
@@ -2556,8 +2556,8 @@ def symlink_to(self, target, target_is_directory=False):
         self._symlinks[str(self)] = str(target)
 
 
-class DummyVirtualPathWithSymlinksTest(DummyVirtualPathTest):
-    cls = DummyVirtualPathWithSymlinks
+class DummyPathWithSymlinksTest(DummyPathTest):
+    cls = DummyPathWithSymlinks
     can_symlink = True
 
     def setUp(self):
@@ -2581,13 +2581,13 @@ def setUp(self):
 # Tests for the concrete classes.
 #
 
-class PathTest(DummyVirtualPathTest):
+class PathTest(DummyPathTest):
     """Tests for the FS-accessing functionalities of the Path classes."""
     cls = pathlib.Path
     can_symlink = os_helper.can_symlink()
 
     def setUp(self):
-        # note: this must be kept in sync with `DummyVirtualPathTest.setUp()`
+        # note: this must be kept in sync with `DummyPathTest.setUp()`
         def cleanup():
             os.chmod(join('dirE'), 0o777)
             os_helper.rmtree(BASE)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-07-03-20-23-56.gh-issue-89812.cFkDOE.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-07-03-20-23-56.gh-issue-89812.cFkDOE.rst
index 2b100f09c67ad9..a4221fc4ca900b 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-07-03-20-23-56.gh-issue-89812.cFkDOE.rst
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-07-03-20-23-56.gh-issue-89812.cFkDOE.rst
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-Add private ``pathlib._VirtualPath`` class, which provides experimental support
+Add private ``pathlib._PathBase`` class, which provides experimental support
 for virtual filesystems, and may be made public in a future version of Python.