Forth was for 16-bit computers, and liked to do everything in 16-bit cells.
(That's 16-bit in the sense of "PDP-11" or "IBM 1130", not in the sense of "Amiga or Atari ST", which very much didn't have a 16-bit memory space.)
(That's 16-bit in the sense of "PDP-11" or "IBM 1130", not in the sense of "Amiga or Atari ST", which very much didn't have a 16-bit memory space.)