Disk

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /dɪsk/

Definitions

1. A circular, flat object commonly used for data storage or as a part of various machinery
2. A flat, round item typically utilized in data storage solutions or found in sporting equipment
3. A round, flat object often used in computing for data storage or as a component in sports and recreational activities

Etymology: The Ancient Greek "dískos" was a circular plate built for throwing, the thing an athlete hurled in the discus contest at the Olympics. Its root, "dikéō," meant "to hurl" or "to launch," so the word's first sense was a physical object defined by the action of throwing it. English "disk" comes from the same Greek source, but it did not arrive through the athletic arena alone: the Greek word also gave Latin "discus," which kept the sporting sense and passed it into European languages. The English form took on a far broader life. Its meaning widened from the throwing plate to any flat, round object, which is how it came to describe a sheet of metal, a sliver of cartilage between vertebrae, and eventually the spinning platter of computer storage. The word is a doublet of "dais," "desk," "disc," "dish," and "discus," all descended from the same Greek root, which makes it a close relative of a raised platform and a writing table as much as of a sports implement.

Synonyms: diskette, disk drive, circle, plate, disc