diff --git a/mysql-test/r/binary.result b/mysql-test/r/binary.result
index 405de1158d6..5b5f673b071 100644
--- a/mysql-test/r/binary.result
+++ b/mysql-test/r/binary.result
@@ -134,3 +134,10 @@ select * from t1 where firstname='john' and firstname like binary 'John';
 firstname	lastname
 John	Doe
 drop table t1;
+create table t1 (a binary);
+show create table t1;
+Table	Create Table
+t1	CREATE TABLE `t1` (
+  `a` binary(1) default NULL
+) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
+drop table t1;
diff --git a/mysql-test/t/binary.test b/mysql-test/t/binary.test
index 3e702fd5257..54ad8e92237 100644
--- a/mysql-test/t/binary.test
+++ b/mysql-test/t/binary.test
@@ -80,3 +80,10 @@ select * from t1 where firstname='john' and firstname = binary 'john';
 select * from t1 where firstname='John' and firstname like binary 'john';
 select * from t1 where firstname='john' and firstname like binary 'John';
 drop table t1;
+
+#
+# Bug #6552 CHAR column w/o length is legal, BINARY w/o length is not
+#
+create table t1 (a binary);
+show create table t1;
+drop table t1;
diff --git a/sql/sql_yacc.yy b/sql/sql_yacc.yy
index d842b4b66bb..521196085bb 100644
--- a/sql/sql_yacc.yy
+++ b/sql/sql_yacc.yy
@@ -1402,6 +1402,9 @@ type:
 	| BINARY '(' NUM ')'		{ Lex->length=$3.str;
 					  Lex->charset=&my_charset_bin;
 					  $$=FIELD_TYPE_STRING; }
+	| BINARY			{ Lex->length= (char*) "1";
+					  Lex->charset=&my_charset_bin;
+					  $$=FIELD_TYPE_STRING; }
 	| varchar '(' NUM ')' opt_binary { Lex->length=$3.str;
 					  $$=FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING; }
 	| nvarchar '(' NUM ')'		{ Lex->length=$3.str;