Simply Explained: Byte Ordering

Intel x86 processors store a two-byte integer with the least significant byte first, followed by the most significant byte. This is called little-endian byte ordering. Other CPUs, such as the PowerPC CPU, store a two-byte integer with its most significant byte first, followed by its least significant byte. This is called big-endian byte ordering.

The terms big-endian and little-endian come from Jonathan Swift’s eighteenth-century satire Gulliver’s Travels. The subjects of the empire of Blefuscu were divided into two factions: those who ate eggs starting from the big end and those who ate eggs starting from the little end.

From geek&poke