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

He told the conference: "We discovered what we think is a black hole merging with a massive companion star, shredding it into a disk that feeds the black hole. It's a rare and awe-inspiring phenomenon."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

Material pulled from the star formed a disk around the black hole and became intensely hot as it spiraled inward.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

The researchers say this difference could mean Proteus formed again from material located in another part of the debris disk.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

A total solar eclipse means the Moon's disk will completely cover the Sun - and it is expected to last for six minutes and 23 seconds, the longest on land since 1991.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

The disk thus constitutes a threatening challenge to historians.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

It had four kilobytes of memory, a black-and-white monitor and used floppy disks that truly flopped when you shook them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Ordinary stars often display silicate emission associated with dusty disks.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

Some may gradually emerge within disks of gas and dust surrounding young stars, while others could form through a process more similar to the collapse that creates stars themselves.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 13, 2026

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 are frozen, but they have started to melt around the edges.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

Related Words

• disc
• plate
• platter