diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt.go
index d7524bbc666..190fa8dbe94 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt.go
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import (
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/operation"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/content"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validation/path"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field"
 )
 
@@ -145,7 +144,7 @@ func PathSegmentName[T ~string](_ context.Context, op operation.Operation, fldPa
 		return nil
 	}
 	var allErrs field.ErrorList
-	for _, msg := range path.IsValidPathSegmentName((string)(*value)) {
+	for _, msg := range content.IsPathSegmentName((string)(*value)) {
 		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath, *value, msg).WithOrigin("format=k8s-path-segment-name"))
 	}
 	return allErrs
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt_test.go
index d9e952a3e80..f2e84ffdbec 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/validate/strfmt_test.go
@@ -416,6 +416,9 @@ func TestPathSegmentName(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	fldPath := field.NewPath("test")
 
+	// This format validator does not check for empty strings or max length,
+	// only checks path-segment-unsafe characters. Those constraints are
+	// handled by separate validators (Required, maxLength) in the schema.
 	testCases := []struct {
 		name     string
 		input    string