Try to investigate the differences between the x86 and ARM processor families (or x86 and the Apple M1), and you'll see the acronyms CISC and RISC. It's a common way to frame the discussion, but ...

That said, the lines between RISC and CISC are a little blurrier these days, with each borrowing ideas from one other and a wide range of CPU cores built on architecture variations.

Many of the differences between RISC-V, ARM, and x86 microprocessors are subtle and relate to how memory is addressed, branches are executed, exceptions are handled, and so on. This article will ...

Remarkably, the i960 as a solid RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture has its roots in Intel’s ill-fated extreme CISC architecture, the iAPX 432.