diff --git a/include/exec/tswap.h b/include/exec/tswap.h
index 5089cd6a4c..b7a4191347 100644
--- a/include/exec/tswap.h
+++ b/include/exec/tswap.h
@@ -8,9 +8,19 @@
 #ifndef TSWAP_H
 #define TSWAP_H
 
-#include "hw/core/cpu.h"
 #include "qemu/bswap.h"
 
+/**
+ * target_words_bigendian:
+ * Returns true if the (default) endianness of the target is big endian,
+ * false otherwise. Note that in target-specific code, you can use
+ * TARGET_BIG_ENDIAN directly instead. On the other hand, common
+ * code should normally never need to know about the endianness of the
+ * target, so please do *not* use this function unless you know very well
+ * what you are doing!
+ */
+bool target_words_bigendian(void);
+
 /*
  * If we're in target-specific code, we can hard-code the swapping
  * condition, otherwise we have to do (slower) run-time checks.
diff --git a/include/hw/core/cpu.h b/include/hw/core/cpu.h
index 7f037b158e..3a66d8581e 100644
--- a/include/hw/core/cpu.h
+++ b/include/hw/core/cpu.h
@@ -1169,17 +1169,6 @@ bool cpu_exec_realizefn(CPUState *cpu, Error **errp);
 void cpu_exec_unrealizefn(CPUState *cpu);
 void cpu_exec_reset_hold(CPUState *cpu);
 
-/**
- * target_words_bigendian:
- * Returns true if the (default) endianness of the target is big endian,
- * false otherwise. Note that in target-specific code, you can use
- * TARGET_BIG_ENDIAN directly instead. On the other hand, common
- * code should normally never need to know about the endianness of the
- * target, so please do *not* use this function unless you know very well
- * what you are doing!
- */
-bool target_words_bigendian(void);
-
 const char *target_name(void);
 
 #ifdef COMPILING_PER_TARGET
diff --git a/cpu-target.c b/cpu-target.c
index 4c0621bf33..f88649c299 100644
--- a/cpu-target.c
+++ b/cpu-target.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #endif
 #include "sysemu/cpus.h"
 #include "sysemu/tcg.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "exec/replay-core.h"
 #include "exec/cpu-common.h"
 #include "exec/exec-all.h"
diff --git a/disas/disas.c b/disas/disas.c
index 7e3b0bb46c..ec14715ecd 100644
--- a/disas/disas.c
+++ b/disas/disas.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "disas/disas.h"
 #include "disas/capstone.h"
 #include "hw/core/cpu.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "exec/memory.h"
 
 /* Filled in by elfload.c.  Simplistic, but will do for now. */
diff --git a/hw/audio/virtio-snd.c b/hw/audio/virtio-snd.c
index c80b58bf5d..6a2ee085c0 100644
--- a/hw/audio/virtio-snd.c
+++ b/hw/audio/virtio-snd.c
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@
 #include "qemu/log.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "include/qemu/lockable.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "sysemu/runstate.h"
 #include "trace.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "hw/audio/virtio-snd.h"
-#include "hw/core/cpu.h"
 
 #define VIRTIO_SOUND_VM_VERSION 1
 #define VIRTIO_SOUND_JACK_DEFAULT 0
diff --git a/hw/core/cpu-sysemu.c b/hw/core/cpu-sysemu.c
index d0d6a910f9..2a9a2a4eb5 100644
--- a/hw/core/cpu-sysemu.c
+++ b/hw/core/cpu-sysemu.c
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
-#include "hw/core/cpu.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "hw/core/sysemu-cpu-ops.h"
 
 bool cpu_paging_enabled(const CPUState *cpu)
diff --git a/hw/core/generic-loader.c b/hw/core/generic-loader.c
index d4b5c501d8..ea8628b892 100644
--- a/hw/core/generic-loader.c
+++ b/hw/core/generic-loader.c
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
-#include "hw/core/cpu.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "sysemu/dma.h"
 #include "sysemu/reset.h"
 #include "hw/boards.h"
diff --git a/hw/display/vga.c b/hw/display/vga.c
index 77f59e8c11..d17ff4b93a 100644
--- a/hw/display/vga.c
+++ b/hw/display/vga.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 #include "qemu/units.h"
 #include "sysemu/reset.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
-#include "hw/core/cpu.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "hw/display/vga.h"
 #include "hw/i386/x86.h"
 #include "hw/pci/pci.h"
diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio.c b/hw/virtio/virtio.c
index 871674f9be..893a072c9d 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "qemu/log.h"
 #include "qemu/main-loop.h"
 #include "qemu/module.h"
+#include "exec/tswap.h"
 #include "qom/object_interfaces.h"
 #include "hw/core/cpu.h"
 #include "hw/virtio/virtio.h"
