What is the difference between Disk and Disc?

Question

I have come across both, but find it difficult to distinguish the difference.

What is the context? When referring to any flat, round object, disk is more common in the North America and disc elsewhere, but many specific uses have a specific preferred form: virtual disk, flying disc, boot disk, disc brake, Golden Disk, Blu-Ray disc, floppy disk, flip disc, stellar disk, etc. — choster, Jul 14 '15 at 22:46

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 14 '15 at 19:28

4

Generally speaking, the British spelling is disc and the US spelling is disk, although there is much overlap and variation between the two. In particular, the spelling for senses relating to computers is nearly always disk, as in floppy disk, disk drive, and so on.

edited Jul 14 '15 at 19:28

Misti

13,774

answered Jul 14 '15 at 19:02

Hugh

8,360

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '15 at 18:52

3

In computing, a disk is magnetic like an old floppy disk or a hard drive. A disc is a DVD or other circular media you put in your computer or other disc reading device.

answered Jul 14 '15 at 18:52

Rj Geraci

235

Microsoft spells "hard disk" and "floppy disk", Amazon spells "compact disc" and "floppy disk"; so does wikipedia. Looks like this is the popularly accepted usage after all. – Val Kornea Jul 14 '15 at 19:13
1

I have found exceptions to this rule but they are usually in older texts. I think it's a new wave of distinction. – Rj Geraci Jul 14 '15 at 19:14
I see no justification in Google NGrams for your distinction. It's just a US/UK spelling difference. – FumbleFingers Jul 14 '15 at 20:20
1

Here is a better justification: NGrams – Rj Geraci Jul 14 '15 at 20:27

What is the difference between Disk and Disc?

2 Answers2