Disc or disk?
disc is a noun meaning “A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object”; disk is a noun meaning “A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) disc is about as common as disk.
What is the difference between disc and disk?
| disc | disk | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object An intervertebral disc To harrow with a disc harrow | A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object A two-dimensional geometric region, the set of points bounded by a circle To harrow |
| Example | A coin is a disc of metal | A coin is a disk of metal |
| Forms | discs | disks |
| Pronunciation | /dɪsk/ | /dɪsk/ |
| In writing | 13 times per million words | 10 times per million words |
Sources: disc and disk in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of disc and disk
disc
- 1
A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object
A coin is a disc of metal
- 2
To harrow with a disc harrow
- 3
Abbreviation of discount
- 4
Abbreviation of discount
- 5
An intervertebral disc
- 6
To move towards, or operate at, zero blade pitch, orienting the propeller blades face-on to the oncoming airflow and maximizing the drag generated by the propeller
In the air, the asymmetric drag generated by a discing propeller can result in loss of control of the airplane
- 7
Something resembling a disc
Venus's disc cut off light from the Sun
- 8
A vinyl phonograph or gramophone record
Turn the disc over, after it has finished
disk
- 1
A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object
A coin is a disk of metal
- 2
To harrow
- 3
A two-dimensional geometric region, the set of points bounded by a circle
- 4
To move towards, or operate at, zero blade pitch, orienting the propeller blades face-on to the oncoming airstream and maximizing the drag generated by the propeller
- 5
Something resembling a disk
Venus' disk cut off light from the Sun
- 6
An intervertebral disc
- 7
datedA vinyl phonograph/gramophone record
Turn the disk over, after it has finished
- 8
Ellipsis of floppy disk
He still uses disks from 1979
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, disc or disk?
disc appears 13 times per million words; disk 10 times per million words.
disc 13 times per million wordsdisk 10 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search disc vs disk?
“disc vs disk” is searched about 9,900 times a month on Google and 400 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“disk vs disc”, “disc or disk”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.