diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 59612d961..5e8cfb9f8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -154,6 +154,9 @@ endif( NO_BUILTIN )
 
 ##### system checks #############################
 
+include(TestBigEndian)
+test_big_endian(WORDS_BIGENDIAN)
+
 tde_save_and_set( CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libltdl )
 check_include_file( "ltdl.h" HAVE_LTDL_H )
 if( NOT HAVE_LTDL_H )
diff --git a/config.h.cmake b/config.h.cmake
index 145fa2c14..eddb68baf 100644
--- a/config.h.cmake
+++ b/config.h.cmake
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 /* config.h.in.  Generated from configure.in by autoheader.  */
 
-/* Define if building universal (internal helper macro) */
-#undef AC_APPLE_UNIVERSAL_BUILD
-
 /* Define where aspell data dir is */
 #define ASPELL_DATADIR "@ASPELL_DATADIR@"
 
@@ -922,15 +919,7 @@
 
 /* Define WORDS_BIGENDIAN to 1 if your processor stores words with the most
    significant byte first (like Motorola and SPARC, unlike Intel). */
-#if defined AC_APPLE_UNIVERSAL_BUILD
-# if defined __BIG_ENDIAN__
-#  define WORDS_BIGENDIAN 1
-# endif
-#else
-# ifndef WORDS_BIGENDIAN
-#  undef WORDS_BIGENDIAN
-# endif
-#endif
+#cmakedefine WORDS_BIGENDIAN @WORDS_BIGENDIAN@
 
 /* where rgb.txt is in */
 #cmakedefine X11_RGBFILE "@X11_RGBFILE@"