Here's a telling footnote from the C99 standard: "The name ‘‘lvalue’’ comes originally from the assignment expression E1 = E2, in which the left operand E1 is

Here's a telling footnote from the C99 standard: "The name ‘‘lvalue’’ comes originally from the assignment expression E1 = E2, in which the left operand E1 is required to be a (modifiable) lvalue. It is perhaps better considered as representing an object ‘‘locator value’’. What is sometimes called ‘‘rvalue’’ is in this International Standard described as the ‘‘value of an expression’’."