diff --git a/apisix/core/config_etcd.lua b/apisix/core/config_etcd.lua
index fa2b09e90dc6..dc7fc3838ab7 100644
--- a/apisix/core/config_etcd.lua
+++ b/apisix/core/config_etcd.lua
@@ -579,7 +579,10 @@ local function _automatic_fetch(premature, self)
                     end
                 end
 
-                ngx_sleep(self.resync_delay + rand() * 0.5 * self.resync_delay)
+                -- etcd watch timeout is an expected error, so there is no need for resync_delay
+                if err ~= "timeout" then
+                    ngx_sleep(self.resync_delay + rand() * 0.5 * self.resync_delay)
+                end
             elseif not ok then
                 -- no error. reentry the sync with different state
                 ngx_sleep(0.05)
diff --git a/t/core/etcd-sync.t b/t/core/etcd-sync.t
index 42a4c72dc342..a1e674218f91 100644
--- a/t/core/etcd-sync.t
+++ b/t/core/etcd-sync.t
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ __DATA__
 etcd:
   host:
     - "http://127.0.0.1:2379"
-  resync_delay: 0.5 # resync after timeout
 --- config
     location /t {
         content_by_lua_block {