diff --git a/doc/source/reference/testing.rst b/doc/source/reference/testing.rst
index e617712aa8f5e..338dd87aa8c62 100644
--- a/doc/source/reference/testing.rst
+++ b/doc/source/reference/testing.rst
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Exceptions and warnings
    errors.AttributeConflictWarning
    errors.ClosedFileError
    errors.CSSWarning
+   errors.DatabaseError
    errors.DataError
    errors.DtypeWarning
    errors.DuplicateLabelError
diff --git a/pandas/errors/__init__.py b/pandas/errors/__init__.py
index 0e0409ccb0932..08ee5650e97a6 100644
--- a/pandas/errors/__init__.py
+++ b/pandas/errors/__init__.py
@@ -456,12 +456,26 @@ class AttributeConflictWarning(Warning):
     """
 
 
+class DatabaseError(OSError):
+    """
+    Error is raised when executing sql with bad syntax or sql that throws an error.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> from sqlite3 import connect
+    >>> conn = connect(':memory:')
+    >>> pd.read_sql('select * test', conn) # doctest: +SKIP
+    ... # DatabaseError: Execution failed on sql 'test': near "test": syntax error
+    """
+
+
 __all__ = [
     "AbstractMethodError",
     "AccessorRegistrationWarning",
     "AttributeConflictWarning",
     "ClosedFileError",
     "CSSWarning",
+    "DatabaseError",
     "DataError",
     "DtypeWarning",
     "DuplicateLabelError",
diff --git a/pandas/io/sql.py b/pandas/io/sql.py
index e4111f24ed295..f591e7b8676f6 100644
--- a/pandas/io/sql.py
+++ b/pandas/io/sql.py
@@ -31,7 +31,10 @@
     DtypeArg,
 )
 from pandas.compat._optional import import_optional_dependency
-from pandas.errors import AbstractMethodError
+from pandas.errors import (
+    AbstractMethodError,
+    DatabaseError,
+)
 from pandas.util._exceptions import find_stack_level
 
 from pandas.core.dtypes.common import (
@@ -56,10 +59,6 @@
     from sqlalchemy import Table
 
 
-class DatabaseError(OSError):
-    pass
-
-
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # -- Helper functions
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_errors.py b/pandas/tests/test_errors.py
index f003e1d07bca6..187d5399f5985 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_errors.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_errors.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
         "PossibleDataLossError",
         "IncompatibilityWarning",
         "AttributeConflictWarning",
+        "DatabaseError",
     ],
 )
 def test_exception_importable(exc):