x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introduced in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit 8080 microprocessor, with memory segmentation as a solution for addressing more memory than can be covered by a plain 16-bit address. The term "x86" came into being because the names of several successors to Intel's 8086 processor end in "86", including the 80186, 80286, 80386 and 80486 processors.
The Intel x86 processor uses complex instruction set computer (CISC) architecture, which means there is a modest number of special-purpose registers instead of large quantities of general-purpose registers. It also means that complex special-purpose instructions will predominate.
The x86 processor traces its heritage at least as far back as the 8-bit Intel 8080 processor. Many peculiarities in the x86 instruction set are due to the backward compatibility with that processor (and with its Zilog Z-80 variant).