The fused five- and six-membered rings in the title compound, C(14)H(12)N(2)O, are essentially planar, the largest deviation from the mean plane being 0.023 (2) Å. The dihedral angle between the benzimidazole mean plane and the phenyl ring is 68.50 (6)°. In the crystal, each mol-ecule is linked to its symmetry equivalent created by a crystallographic inversion center by pairs of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming inversion dimers.