Meanings
- not comparablecomputingStoring the most significant byte of a multibyte number at a lower address than the least significant byte; that is, "big end" first.
Most big Unix machines are big-endian, but Intel x86 machines and older Digital machines are little-endian.
1999, W. Curtis Preston, Unix Backup and Recovery, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 132 - not comparablecomputingTransmitting the most significant byte of a multibyte number before transmitting the least significant byte; that is, "big end" first.
The network octet order for all protocols in the TCP/IP protocol suite is big-endian. A big-endian computer system need not perform any conversion in building TCP/IP protocol headers from integers stored in its memory.
1994, James Martin, Joe Leben, TCP/IP Networking: Architecture, Administration, and Programming, Prentice Hall, page 203
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
See the etymology for endian.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto pezkomenca
- pezkomencacomputing: storing the most significant byte at a lower address
Polish grubokońcowość
- grubokońcowośćcomputing: storing the most significant byte at a lower address
Cite this entry
big-endian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big-endian
“big-endian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big-endian. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “big-endian,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big-endian.
Source: big-endian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.