Disk

A disk or disc is anything that resembles a flattened cylinder in shape. More specifically:

• In biology, an intervertebral disc is a cartilaginous joint between vertebrae in the spine of vertebrate animals.\n* In mathematics, a disk is a geometrical object. See Disk (mathematics).\n* An analogue disc record is a gramophone or phonograph recording medium, usually consisting of a long spiral groove in a vinyl or lacquer platter.\n* The hard disk and floppy disk are magnetic storage media used in computers.\n* A variety of optical storage media, such as the compact disc, DVD, and laserdisc, are used for digital data or video.\n* Disc brakes are often used in automobiles.\n* In astrophysics, an accretion disc or disk is a structure formed by material falling into a gravitational source.\n* The Frisbee is a flying disc toy.

Table of contents

1 Disk or Disc? 2 See also 3 External link

Disk or Disc?

The divergence in spelling is due in part to the way in which the words originated. Disk came into the English language in the mid-17th century, and was modelled on words such as whisk; disc arose some time later, and was based on the original Latin root discus. In the 19th century, disc became the conventional spelling for audio recordings made on a flat plate, such as the analogue disc record; this usage gave rise to the modern term disc jockey. Early BBC technicians differentiated between disks (in-house transcription records) and discs (the colloquial term for commercial gramophone records, or what the BBC dubbed CGRs). By the 20th century, the c-spelling was more popular in British English, while the k-spelling was preferred in American English. In the 1940s, when the American company IBM pioneered the first hard disk storage devices, the k-spelling was used. In 1979 the European company Philips, along with Sony, developed the compact disc medium; here, the c-spelling was chosen, possibly because of the predominating British spelling, or because the compact disc was seen as a successor to the analogue disc record. Whatever their heritage, in computer jargon today it is common for the k-spelling to refer mainly to magnetic storage devices, while the c-spelling is customary for optical media such as the compact disc and similar technologies. Even in the computing field, however, the terms are used inconsistently; software documentation often uses the k-spelling exclusively. Etymology: from Greek δίσκος, a flat round object athletes competed in throwing.  See discus throw.

See also

\n* Biology\n** Intervertebral disc\n** Discus (fish)\n* Computing\n** Hard disk\n** Floppy disk\n** Disk storage\n** RAM disk\n* Mathematics\n** Disk (mathematics)\n** Euler's disk\n** Unit disc\n* Astrophysics\n** Protoplanetary disc\n** Accretion disc\n** Scattered disk object\n* Audio and Video\n** Compact disc\n** Analogue disc record\n** Nipkow disk\n** Laserdisc\n** DVD\n** Advanced Optical Disc\n** Blu-ray Disc\n** MiniDisc\n* Discus throw

External link

• Usage note from American Heritage Dictionary

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