diff --git a/docs/devel/clocks.rst b/docs/devel/clocks.rst
index 2d317ff32f..2548d84232 100644
--- a/docs/devel/clocks.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/clocks.rst
@@ -267,6 +267,11 @@ Here is an example:
                         clock_get(dev->my_clk_input));
     }
 
+If you are only interested in the frequency for displaying it to
+humans (for instance in debugging), use ``clock_display_freq()``,
+which returns a prettified string-representation, e.g. "33.3 MHz".
+The caller must free the string with g_free() after use.
+
 Calculating expiry deadlines
 ----------------------------
 
diff --git a/hw/core/clock.c b/hw/core/clock.c
index 8c6af223e7..76b5f468b6 100644
--- a/hw/core/clock.c
+++ b/hw/core/clock.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "hw/clock.h"
 #include "trace.h"
 
@@ -111,6 +112,11 @@ static void clock_disconnect(Clock *clk)
     QLIST_REMOVE(clk, sibling);
 }
 
+char *clock_display_freq(Clock *clk)
+{
+    return freq_to_str(clock_get_hz(clk));
+}
+
 static void clock_initfn(Object *obj)
 {
     Clock *clk = CLOCK(obj);
diff --git a/include/hw/clock.h b/include/hw/clock.h
index 852c636961..6382f34656 100644
--- a/include/hw/clock.h
+++ b/include/hw/clock.h
@@ -264,4 +264,16 @@ static inline bool clock_is_enabled(const Clock *clk)
     return clock_get(clk) != 0;
 }
 
+/**
+ * clock_display_freq: return human-readable representation of clock frequency
+ * @clk: clock
+ *
+ * Return a string which has a human-readable representation of the
+ * clock's frequency, e.g. "33.3 MHz". This is intended for debug
+ * and display purposes.
+ *
+ * The caller is responsible for freeing the string with g_free().
+ */
+char *clock_display_freq(Clock *clk);
+
 #endif /* QEMU_HW_CLOCK_H */
diff --git a/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c b/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
index 2c57e36c9a..8dc656becc 100644
--- a/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
+++ b/softmmu/qdev-monitor.c
@@ -736,11 +736,11 @@ static void qdev_print(Monitor *mon, DeviceState *dev, int indent)
         }
     }
     QLIST_FOREACH(ncl, &dev->clocks, node) {
-        qdev_printf("clock-%s%s \"%s\" freq_hz=%e\n",
+        g_autofree char *freq_str = clock_display_freq(ncl->clock);
+        qdev_printf("clock-%s%s \"%s\" freq_hz=%s\n",
                     ncl->output ? "out" : "in",
                     ncl->alias ? " (alias)" : "",
-                    ncl->name,
-                    CLOCK_PERIOD_TO_HZ(1.0 * clock_get(ncl->clock)));
+                    ncl->name, freq_str);
     }
     class = object_get_class(OBJECT(dev));
     do {