Disk

How to spell disk

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce disk

What does disk mean?

1. nounA flat circular device used to store computer data, such as a hard drive or a removable storage unit.
2. nounA thin, flat, circular object or plate.

Disk in a sentence

• The backup files are saved to an external hard disk.

• The brake disk on the front wheel was badly worn.

• The old laptop ran out of disk space halfway through the install.

• A small metal disk spun on the table as the children watched.

Where does disk come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Greek diskos, which named the heavy round plate that ancient athletes hurled in the discus throw; the root sense was simply 'a flat circular object'. Latin borrowed it as discus, keeping both the athletic meaning and the broader idea of any round, flat plate. English took the word in during the 1600s, and over time it split into two competing spellings: 'disc' with a c, closer to the Latin, and 'disk' with a k, reshaped on the model of Greek and of other -k words. The k-spelling became the standard choice for computing storage devices on both sides of the Atlantic and is the usual general form in American English. The same ancestor also gave us 'discus', 'dish', and even 'desk', all of which started life as that one flat round plate, which is a useful reminder of why the spelling stays so simple.

How the word is built

• disk (single root, from Latin discus, a round plate or quoit; the -k spelling is the variant favoured in computing and in American usage)

British and American spelling

Disk is the American spelling. British English spells it disc.