Showing results for "disk"

• a variation of disc.

disk

American  

[disk] / dɪsk /

Also disc

noun

disks plural

1. any thin, flat, circular plate or object.

2. any surface that is flat and round, or seemingly so.

   the disk of the sun.

3. disc.

4. Computers. any of several types of media consisting of thin, round plates of plastic or metal, used for external storage.

   magnetic disk;

   hard disk;

   optical disk.

5. Botany, Zoology. any of various roundish, flat structures or parts.

6. intervertebral disk.

7. Botany. (in the daisy and other composite plants) the central portion of the flower head, composed of tubular florets.

8. any of the circular steel blades that form the working part of a disk harrow.

9. Mathematics. the domain bounded by a circle.

10. Archaic. discus.

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verb (used with object)

1. Informal. disc.

2. to cultivate (soil) with a disk harrow.

disk British  

/ dɪsk /

noun

1. a variant spelling (esp US and Canadian) of disc

2. Also called: magnetic disk.   hard disk.  computing a direct-access storage device consisting of a stack of plates coated with a magnetic layer, the whole assembly rotating rapidly as a single unit. Each surface has a read-write head that can move radially to read or write data on concentric tracks Compare drum 1 See also floppy disk

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disk Scientific  

/ dĭsk /

1. 1. See magnetic disk

   2. See optical disk

2. See intervertebral disk

3. The round, flat center, consisting of many disk flowers, found in the inflorescences of many composite plants such as the daisy.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• disklike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• disks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of disk

First recorded in 1655–65; from Latin discus discus; cf. dish

Explanation

A disk is a round, flat circle. The face of the clock on your kitchen wall is a disk. Disk, also spelled disc, refers to anything with a circular flat shape, like a Frisbee, a penny, or a dinner plate. In computing, a disk is a device that stores data, and in the audio/video world, a disk can be a musical compact disk, or a DVD, a digital video disk. A disk jockey is someone who plays music, either on LPs or CDs, on the radio. The Greek root, diskos, means "platter."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

disk disks

A tilted accretion disk around a black hole could also create bumps in the light curve.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026

Over time, the disk spirals inward, causing the wobble to speed up.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026

Smith said he had been diagnosed with an inflamed disk.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

"What he can do is stored in the hard disk in my head."

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

The sounds of whirring disk drives, self-test beeps, and other boot-up sounds echoed off the vaulted ceiling.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Astrolabes are metallic disks with multi-layered, interlocking components that were historically used to tell the time, map the stars, the direction of Mecca and the motion of the sky.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026

The disks sit in a jumble of gleaming metal equipment; Ms. Fox, in a pale-blue hazmat suit and surgical mask, peers in at them through a window.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

The researchers had been experimenting with especially small magnetic disks, shrinking them from several micrometers down to just a few hundred nanometers.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 27, 2026

The International Ice Hockey Federation apparently secured the frozen vulcanized rubber disks immediately after the games and handed them to the Hall of Fame located in Toronto.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

Round and round the diamond-clear counters covered with bottles, wafer-thin disks, round boxes, tubes, and phials.

From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison

Related Words

• disc
• plate
• platter