diff --git a/cogl/cogl-fixed.c b/cogl/cogl-fixed.c
index a144d8404..4d9215549 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-fixed.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-fixed.c
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@
 #include <glib-object.h>
 #include <gobject/gvaluecollector.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_FLOAT_WORD_ORDER
+#include <endian.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "cogl-fixed.h"
 
 /* pre-computed sin table for 1st quadrant
@@ -306,6 +310,7 @@ static const double _magic = 68719476736.0 * 1.5;
  *
  * FIXME - this should go inside the configure.ac
  */
+#ifdef HAVE_FLOAT_WORD_ORDER
 #if (__FLOAT_WORD_ORDER == 1234)
 #define _COGL_MAN			0
 #elif (__FLOAT_WORD_ORDER == 4321)
@@ -313,6 +318,9 @@ static const double _magic = 68719476736.0 * 1.5;
 #else
 #define COGL_NO_FAST_CONVERSIONS
 #endif
+#else /* HAVE_FLOAT_WORD_ORDER */
+#define COGL_NO_FAST_CONVERSIONS
+#endif /* HAVE_FLOAT_WORD_ORDER */
 
 /*
  * cogl_double_to_fixed :
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 51b4b0af6..bb62411b8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1295,7 +1295,10 @@ dnl ================================================================
 AC_PATH_X
 AC_HEADER_STDC
 AC_CHECK_HEADERS(fcntl.h limits.h unistd.h)
-
+AC_CHECK_HEADER([endian.h],
+                [AC_CHECK_DECL([__FLOAT_WORD_ORDER],
+                               AC_DEFINE([HAVE_FLOAT_WORD_ORDER], [1],
+                                         [Has the __FLOAT_WORD_ORDER macro]))])
 
 dnl ================================================================
 dnl Checks for library functions.