diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6021b760b..2fd340a6a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -493,8 +493,6 @@ if test x"$enable_module_recovery" = x"yes"; then
   AC_DEFINE(ENABLE_MODULE_RECOVERY, 1, [Define this symbol to enable the ECDSA pubkey recovery module])
 fi
 
-AC_C_BIGENDIAN()
-
 if test x"$use_external_asm" = x"yes"; then
   AC_DEFINE(USE_EXTERNAL_ASM, 1, [Define this symbol if an external (non-inline) assembly implementation is used])
 fi
diff --git a/src/hash_impl.h b/src/hash_impl.h
index 782f97216..1985a0783 100644
--- a/src/hash_impl.h
+++ b/src/hash_impl.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #define SECP256K1_HASH_IMPL_H
 
 #include "hash.h"
+#include "util.h"
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
@@ -27,9 +28,9 @@
     (h) = t1 + t2; \
 } while(0)
 
-#ifdef WORDS_BIGENDIAN
+#if defined(SECP256K1_BIG_ENDIAN)
 #define BE32(x) (x)
-#else
+#elif defined(SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN)
 #define BE32(p) ((((p) & 0xFF) << 24) | (((p) & 0xFF00) << 8) | (((p) & 0xFF0000) >> 8) | (((p) & 0xFF000000) >> 24))
 #endif
 
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index 8289e23e0..befb9dccd 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -179,6 +179,20 @@ static SECP256K1_INLINE void *manual_alloc(void** prealloc_ptr, size_t alloc_siz
 SECP256K1_GNUC_EXT typedef unsigned __int128 uint128_t;
 #endif
 
+#if defined(__BYTE_ORDER__)
+# if defined(__ORDER_LITTLE_ENDIAN__) && __BYTE_ORDER__ == __ORDER_LITTLE_ENDIAN__ && !defined(SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN)
+#  define SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN
+# elif defined(__ORDER_BIG_ENDIAN__) && __BYTE_ORDER__ == __ORDER_BIG_ENDIAN__ && !defined(SECP256K1_BIG_ENDIAN)
+#  define SECP256K1_BIG_ENDIAN
+# endif
+#endif
+#if defined(_MSC_VER) && defined(_WIN32) && !defined(SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN)
+# define SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN
+#endif
+#if defined(SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN) == defined(SECP256K1_BIG_ENDIAN)
+# error Please make sure that either SECP256K1_LITTLE_ENDIAN or SECP256K1_BIG_ENDIAN is set, see src/util.h.
+#endif
+
 /* Zero memory if flag == 1. Flag must be 0 or 1. Constant time. */
 static SECP256K1_INLINE void memczero(void *s, size_t len, int flag) {
     unsigned char *p = (unsigned char *)s;