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I heard some people say theyre the same thing, but others are adamant that they have different meanings. Which is it?

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[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago

Disc = round

Disk = rectangular

This is correct in most cases but I don't think it's the underlying principle.

This wiki talks about the etymology, with a lot of examples. Most conform to this rule, but there are exceptions in astrophysics like an accretion disk.

Even in info tech, "hard disk" doesn't really conform to this rule. Like is a hard disk a square hard drive or is it the round thing inside? If it's the square hard drive, that's not thin enough to be a "disk". I'd it's the round thing inside that would be hard disc, but also creates problems for floppy disk because why refer to the housing in one instance but not another.

Sadly, I think the correct answer is that either refers to a thin flat thing, some spellings are preferred for some uses.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

til disk is actually preferred in American English. from your link:

Usage notes

In most varieties of English, disk is the preferred spelling for magnetic media (hence floppy disk, hard disk, disk drive), whereas disc is preferred for optical media (hence compact disc, digital versatile disc, optical disc). For all other uses, disk is preferred in American English and acceptable in Canadian English, and disc otherwise.

Find me an American who says his car is equipped with "disk brakes." "Disk" is peculiar to computer magnetic storage media, and "disc" for a round object that probably spins.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_(mathematics) preferred spelling here

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disk main entry lists disc as a variant spelling while the entry for disc: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disc notes it as a variant spelling of disk

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/disc links to disk

Cambridge online dictionary seems to agree with you more but it's always been the shittiest of them

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Wikipedia tells me that they were initially developed in England and finally patented in Germany, so I'm guessing that's why the British spelling is used in that case.

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this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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