When executing an instruction, the processor can address memory using either 16 or 32-bit addresses. Consequently, each instruction that uses memory addresses has associated with it an address-size attribute of either 16 or 32 bits. The use of 16-bit addresses implies both the use of 16-bit displacements in instructions and the generation of 16-bit address offsets (segment relative addresses) as the result of the effective address calculations. 32-bit addresses imply the use of 32-bit displacements and the generation of 32-bit address offsets. Similarly, an instruction that accesses words (16 bits) or doublewords (32 bits) has an operand-size attribute of either 16 or 32 bits.
The attributes are determined by a combination of defaults, instruction prefixes, and (for programs executing in protected mode) size-specification bits in segment descriptors.