diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.0.0.rst b/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.0.0.rst
index 0e6d1029d352b..41a141ae65981 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.0.0.rst
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v2.0.0.rst
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ Other enhancements
 - :func:`date_range` now supports a ``unit`` keyword ("s", "ms", "us", or "ns") to specify the desired resolution of the output index (:issue:`49106`)
 - :meth:`DataFrame.to_json` now supports a ``mode`` keyword with supported inputs 'w' and 'a'. Defaulting to 'w', 'a' can be used when lines=True and orient='records' to append record oriented json lines to an existing json file. (:issue:`35849`)
 - Added ``name`` parameter to :meth:`IntervalIndex.from_breaks`, :meth:`IntervalIndex.from_arrays` and :meth:`IntervalIndex.from_tuples` (:issue:`48911`)
+- :meth:`DataFrame.plot.hist` now recognizes ``xlabel`` and ``ylabel`` arguments (:issue:`49793`)
 -
 
 .. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/pandas/plotting/_core.py b/pandas/plotting/_core.py
index 529849e740169..749845f222834 100644
--- a/pandas/plotting/_core.py
+++ b/pandas/plotting/_core.py
@@ -720,6 +720,10 @@ class PlotAccessor(PandasObject):
 
            Now applicable to planar plots (`scatter`, `hexbin`).
 
+        .. versionchanged:: 2.0.0
+
+            Now applicable to histograms.
+
     ylabel : label, optional
         Name to use for the ylabel on y-axis. Default will show no ylabel, or the
         y-column name for planar plots.
@@ -730,6 +734,10 @@ class PlotAccessor(PandasObject):
 
            Now applicable to planar plots (`scatter`, `hexbin`).
 
+        .. versionchanged:: 2.0.0
+
+            Now applicable to histograms.
+
     rot : float, default None
         Rotation for ticks (xticks for vertical, yticks for horizontal
         plots).
diff --git a/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py b/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py
index 9aad516d308c3..c20495dac5863 100644
--- a/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py
+++ b/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ def __init__(
     ) -> None:
         self.bins = bins  # use mpl default
         self.bottom = bottom
+        self.xlabel = kwargs.get("xlabel")
+        self.ylabel = kwargs.get("ylabel")
         # Do not call LinePlot.__init__ which may fill nan
         MPLPlot.__init__(self, data, **kwargs)
 
@@ -170,9 +172,11 @@ def _make_plot_keywords(self, kwds, y):
 
     def _post_plot_logic(self, ax: Axes, data) -> None:
         if self.orientation == "horizontal":
-            ax.set_xlabel("Frequency")
+            ax.set_xlabel("Frequency" if self.xlabel is None else self.xlabel)
+            ax.set_ylabel(self.ylabel)
         else:
-            ax.set_ylabel("Frequency")
+            ax.set_xlabel(self.xlabel)
+            ax.set_ylabel("Frequency" if self.ylabel is None else self.ylabel)
 
     @property
     def orientation(self) -> PlottingOrientation:
diff --git a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py
index d9505b4d593e6..3a9aa91002730 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/plotting/test_series.py
@@ -807,7 +807,7 @@ def test_style_single_ok(self):
         "index_name, old_label, new_label",
         [(None, "", "new"), ("old", "old", "new"), (None, "", "")],
     )
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize("kind", ["line", "area", "bar", "barh"])
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("kind", ["line", "area", "bar", "barh", "hist"])
     def test_xlabel_ylabel_series(self, kind, index_name, old_label, new_label):
         # GH 9093
         ser = Series([1, 2, 3, 4])
@@ -818,6 +818,9 @@ def test_xlabel_ylabel_series(self, kind, index_name, old_label, new_label):
         if kind == "barh":
             assert ax.get_xlabel() == ""
             assert ax.get_ylabel() == old_label
+        elif kind == "hist":
+            assert ax.get_xlabel() == ""
+            assert ax.get_ylabel() == "Frequency"
         else:
             assert ax.get_ylabel() == ""
             assert ax.get_xlabel() == old_label