Meanings
adjectivelittle-endian (not comparable)
- not comparablecomputingStoring the most significant byte of a multibyte number at a higher address than the least significant byte; that is, "little 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
Synonyms & antonyms
Opposite
Origin
See the etymology for endian.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish cienkokońcowość
- cienkokońcowośćcomputing: storing the least significant byte at a lower address
Cite this entry
APA
little-endian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/little-endian
MLA
“little-endian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/little-endian. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “little-endian,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/little-endian.
Source: little-endian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.