CD is officially short for compact disc, spelled with a c.
But let's add to your confusion! Before audio CDs, we had records, which were also called 'discs' with a c. But before computer CDs, we had floppy disks and hard disk drives, both spelled with a k.
So what I gather from that is that "disc" means something round, and "disk" means "computer equipment on which you can save data"? Is that the nuance I was missing?
Actually, "disk" means something round. That spelling is older than "disc."
Something interesting I found out in my own Googling, though: when I was a kid, back pain sufferers often had "slipped disks" and sometimes drove cars with "disk brakes." Both of those terms have begun to switch to the "disc" spelling.
Actually, "disk" means something round. That spelling is older than "disc."
In fairness, there's variation even in OED's very earliest citations. Even though OED does say that the earlier spelling is disk, I don't think it's fair to argue that one is significantly older than the other. Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopædia is OED's second-earliest citation, dating 1727-1751, and even as early as that it gives both disc and disk as variants. (Obviously disc would have been influenced by Latin discus, even if its proximate origin were from French disque, and disk would have been directly from Greek δίσκος. OED's earliest citation is from Pope's translation of the Iliad, which naturally would have gone with the Hellenicising form.)
I'm actually quite surprised at OED here - they've taken an unusual prescriptive stance, or at least they have in the online article: "The earlier and better spelling is disk" (my bold, their italics).
But let's add to your confusion! Before audio CDs, we had records, which were also called 'discs' with a c. But before computer CDs, we had floppy disks and hard disk drives, both spelled with a k.
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Something interesting I found out in my own Googling, though: when I was a kid, back pain sufferers often had "slipped disks" and sometimes drove cars with "disk brakes." Both of those terms have begun to switch to the "disc" spelling.
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In fairness, there's variation even in OED's very earliest citations. Even though OED does say that the earlier spelling is disk, I don't think it's fair to argue that one is significantly older than the other. Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopædia is OED's second-earliest citation, dating 1727-1751, and even as early as that it gives both disc and disk as variants. (Obviously disc would have been influenced by Latin discus, even if its proximate origin were from French disque, and disk would have been directly from Greek δίσκος. OED's earliest citation is from Pope's translation of the Iliad, which naturally would have gone with the Hellenicising form.)
I'm actually quite surprised at OED here - they've taken an unusual prescriptive stance, or at least they have in the online article: "The earlier and better spelling is disk" (my bold, their italics).
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