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disk

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

4 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "disk", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "disk" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "disk" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

disk is aEnglishnoun. It means: A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object. Pronounced /dɪsk/. It ranks #7,008 in English word frequency. Often confused with DS and DIY.

Key facts for disk
PropertyValue
Headworddisk
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dɪsk/
Letters4
Frequency rank#7,008
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of disk in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for disk is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪsk/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,008 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for disk, with forms such as "ddisk", "diks", and "diskk". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "DS", "DIY", "DOS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “a circular plate suited for hurling”), from δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to hurl, to launch”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, dish, and diskos. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is disk, spelled D-I-S-K, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object.
  2. 2
    A two-dimensional geometric region, the set of points bounded by a circle.
  3. 3
    Something resembling a disk.
  4. 4
    An intervertebral disc
  5. 5
    A vinyl phonograph/gramophone record.
  6. 6
    Ellipsis of floppy disk.
  7. 7
    Ellipsis of hard disk.
  8. 8
    Ellipsis of optical disk.
  9. 9
    A type of harrow.
  10. 10
    A ring- or cup-shaped enlargement of the flower receptacle or ovary that bears nectar or, less commonly, the stamens.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “a circular plate suited for hurling”), from δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to hurl, to launch”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, dish, and diskos.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddisk,diks,diskk,dissk,dsik,idsk

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for disk

Misspelling Variants of "disk"

ddisk5diks4diskk5dissk5dsik4idsk4
Misspelling Variants of "disk"

Frequency rank: #7,008 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "disk"?
"disk" is spelled D-I-S-K. The IPA pronunciation is /dɪsk/.
What does "disk" mean?
As a noun, "disk" means: A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object.
What words are commonly confused with "disk"?
"disk" is commonly confused with "DS", "DIY", "DOS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "disk"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "disk" is /dɪsk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "disk"?
From Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “a circular plate suited for hurling”), from δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to hurl, to launch”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, dish, and diskos. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.