diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 108b7621e20a..6e06ac616120 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -635,11 +635,9 @@ else
   cpu=$(uname -m)
 fi
 
-ARCH=
-# Normalise host CPU name, set ARCH and multilib cflags
+# Normalise host CPU name, set multilib cflags
 # Note that this case should only have supported host CPUs, not guests.
 case "$cpu" in
-  aarch64|riscv) ;;
   armv*b|armv*l|arm)
     cpu="arm" ;;
 
@@ -668,8 +666,7 @@ case "$cpu" in
     CPU_CFLAGS="-m64 -mlittle" ;;
 
   s390)
-    CPU_CFLAGS="-m31"
-    ARCH=unknown ;;
+    CPU_CFLAGS="-m31" ;;
   s390x)
     CPU_CFLAGS="-m64" ;;
 
@@ -678,15 +675,7 @@ case "$cpu" in
     CPU_CFLAGS="-m32 -mv8plus -mcpu=ultrasparc" ;;
   sparc64)
     CPU_CFLAGS="-m64 -mcpu=ultrasparc" ;;
-
-  *)
-    # This will result in either an error or falling back to TCI later
-    ARCH=unknown
-  ;;
 esac
-if test -z "$ARCH"; then
-  ARCH="$cpu"
-fi
 
 : ${make=${MAKE-make}}
 
@@ -3406,8 +3395,6 @@ echo "GIT=$git" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "GIT_SUBMODULES=$git_submodules" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "GIT_SUBMODULES_ACTION=$git_submodules_action" >> $config_host_mak
 
-echo "ARCH=$ARCH" >> $config_host_mak
-
 if test "$debug_tcg" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_DEBUG_TCG=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
@@ -3898,12 +3885,12 @@ if test "$skip_meson" = no; then
     cross_arg="--cross-file config-meson.cross"
     echo "[host_machine]" >> $cross
     echo "system = '$targetos'" >> $cross
-    case "$ARCH" in
+    case "$cpu" in
         i386)
             echo "cpu_family = 'x86'" >> $cross
             ;;
         *)
-            echo "cpu_family = '$ARCH'" >> $cross
+            echo "cpu_family = '$cpu'" >> $cross
             ;;
     esac
     echo "cpu = '$cpu'" >> $cross
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4fdaa65b055c..2495360fd05d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@ endif
 
 targetos = host_machine.system()
 
+if cpu not in supported_cpus
+  host_arch = 'unknown'
+elif cpu == 'x86'
+  host_arch = 'i386'
+else
+  host_arch = cpu
+endif
+
 if cpu in ['x86', 'x86_64']
   kvm_targets = ['i386-softmmu', 'x86_64-softmmu']
 elif cpu == 'aarch64'
@@ -335,9 +343,9 @@ if targetos == 'netbsd'
   endif
 endif
 
-tcg_arch = config_host['ARCH']
+tcg_arch = host_arch
 if not get_option('tcg').disabled()
-  if cpu not in supported_cpus
+  if host_arch == 'unknown'
     if get_option('tcg_interpreter')
       warning('Unsupported CPU @0@, will use TCG with TCI (slow)'.format(cpu))
     else
@@ -353,11 +361,11 @@ if not get_option('tcg').disabled()
   endif
   if get_option('tcg_interpreter')
     tcg_arch = 'tci'
-  elif config_host['ARCH'] == 'sparc64'
+  elif host_arch == 'sparc64'
     tcg_arch = 'sparc'
-  elif config_host['ARCH'] == 'x86_64'
+  elif host_arch == 'x86_64'
     tcg_arch = 'i386'
-  elif config_host['ARCH'] == 'ppc64'
+  elif host_arch == 'ppc64'
     tcg_arch = 'ppc'
   endif
   add_project_arguments('-iquote', meson.current_source_dir() / 'tcg' / tcg_arch,
@@ -1426,6 +1434,8 @@ config_host_data.set_quoted('CONFIG_QEMU_LOCALSTATEDIR', get_option('prefix') /
 config_host_data.set_quoted('CONFIG_QEMU_MODDIR', get_option('prefix') / qemu_moddir)
 config_host_data.set_quoted('CONFIG_SYSCONFDIR', get_option('prefix') / get_option('sysconfdir'))
 
+config_host_data.set('HOST_' + host_arch.to_upper(), 1)
+
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_ATTR', libattr.found())
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_BRLAPI', brlapi.found())
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_COCOA', cocoa.found())
@@ -1775,8 +1785,6 @@ foreach k, v: config_host
       v = '"' + '", "'.join(v.split()) + '", '
     endif
     config_host_data.set(k, v)
-  elif k == 'ARCH'
-    config_host_data.set('HOST_' + v.to_upper(), 1)
   elif strings.contains(k)
     config_host_data.set_quoted(k, v)
   elif k.startswith('CONFIG_')
@@ -1919,7 +1927,7 @@ foreach target : target_dirs
   endif
 
   foreach k, v: disassemblers
-    if config_host['ARCH'].startswith(k) or config_target['TARGET_BASE_ARCH'].startswith(k)
+    if host_arch.startswith(k) or config_target['TARGET_BASE_ARCH'].startswith(k)
       foreach sym: v
         config_target += { sym: 'y' }
         config_all_disas += { sym: 'y' }
@@ -2888,7 +2896,7 @@ foreach target : target_dirs
     endif
     if 'CONFIG_LINUX_USER' in config_target
       base_dir = 'linux-user'
-      target_inc += include_directories('linux-user/host/' / config_host['ARCH'])
+      target_inc += include_directories('linux-user/host/' / host_arch)
     endif
     if 'CONFIG_BSD_USER' in config_target
       base_dir = 'bsd-user'