diff --git a/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_pause.h b/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_pause.h
index 668ee4a184..d0c5b5a415 100644
--- a/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_pause.h
+++ b/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_pause.h

@@ -111,6 +111,34 @@ rte_wait_until_equal_64(volatile uint64_t *addr, uint64_t expected,
 	while (__atomic_load_n(addr, memorder) != expected)
 		rte_pause();
 }
+
+/*
+ * Wait until *addr breaks the condition, with a relaxed memory
+ * ordering model meaning the loads around this API can be reordered.
+ *
+ * @param addr
+ *  A pointer to the memory location.
+ * @param mask
+ *  A mask of value bits in interest.
+ * @param cond
+ *  A symbol representing the condition.
+ * @param expected
+ *  An expected value to be in the memory location.
+ * @param memorder
+ *  Two different memory orders that can be specified:
+ *  __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE and __ATOMIC_RELAXED. These map to
+ *  C++11 memory orders with the same names, see the C++11 standard or
+ *  the GCC wiki on atomic synchronization for detailed definition.
+ */
+#define rte_wait_event(addr, mask, cond, expected, memorder)                       \
+do {                                                                               \
+	RTE_BUILD_BUG_ON(!__builtin_constant_p(memorder));                         \
+	RTE_BUILD_BUG_ON(memorder != __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE &&                           \
+				memorder != __ATOMIC_RELAXED);                     \
+	typeof(*(addr)) expected_value = (expected);                               \
+	while ((__atomic_load_n((addr), (memorder)) & (mask)) cond expected_value) \
+		rte_pause();                                                       \
+} while (0)
 #endif

 #endif /* _RTE_PAUSE_H_ */
--