Meanings
- not comparablecomputingPreceded by a qualifying word: of a computer: storing multibyte numbers with the most significant byte at a particular memory address; for example, at the smallest address (big-endian) or the largest address (little-endian).First known use 1980
endian-neutral code
1 more example
In Ken Turkowski's article on the big and little endian addressing used on the 68020 he commented that Motorola's approach "proved" that a machine with consistant^([sic]) bit addressing (e.g., all little or big endian) was impossible. I assume that he was joking.
1984 August 25, Ian Kaplan, “Inconsistent bit addressing in the 68020: big- AND little-endian”, in net.micro.68k (Usenet)
Origin
From end + -ian (suffix meaning ‘one from, belonging to, like, or relating to’ forming nouns, and meaning ‘from, like, or related to’ forming adjectives), originally in the noun Big-Endian coined by the Anglo-Irish author Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) in his novel Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Swift wrote of an emperor of Lilliput who, after his son cuts his finger when opening an egg at the large end, commands his subjects to open them at the small end; those who rebel by opening their eggs at the large end are called “Big-Endians”. The term was applied in the computing context by the Israeli-American computer scientist Danny Cohen (1937–2019) in 1980.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish tavujärjestystä käyttävä
- tavujärjestystä käyttäväof a computer: storing multibyte numbers with the most significant byte at a particular memory address
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Cite this entry
endian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/endian
“endian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/endian. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “endian,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/endian.
Source: endian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.