Big Endian? is where you send/store the number 0x01020304 as "01 02 03 04". This was traditionally used for larger machines, and since larger machines had network connectivity, NetworkByteOrder has been traditionally BigEndian.

English and most European languages are traditionally BigEndian: we write numbers "1234" when we mean "one thousand, two hundred and thirty four". By contrast, Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew are LittleEndian -- despite the fact that the digits are written in the same order -- because those languages are read right-to-left. So "1234" in Arabic is STILL "one thousand, two hundred and thirty four", it's just read out in reverse order.

Compare LittleEndian.

Most SiliconGraphicsIndy's are BigEndian.