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).
I asked myself the same question the other day. And Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary says that disc is UK usage, whereas disk is American. That's for CDs, for example, whereas it's floppy disk everywhere, because that's short for diskette, I think. (Cambridge, again.)
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary says that disc is UK usage, whereas disk is American.
I think this is it: hard disks and programs are spelled that way because they came from the US, while compact discs are spelled that way because they came from Europe (Phillips is Dutch, I think).
It's been my understanding* that originally, diskette referred to a removable data source, as opposed to a fixed disk drive, and that the engineers who decided upon the nomenclature Compact Disc spelled it with a c to differentiate it from other computer disks.
*I've been working with computers since the late 70s.
There is no really consistent rule, but in UK English we use "disc" for round flat things in general but "disk" for computer storage devices, just like we use "programme" for something on the telly but "program" for something in a computer.
It has also got to the point where a "disk" does not even have to be round, as in "flash disk", which is an increasingly popular term for a flash drive. (And again, "drive" is an odd word to use for something which doesn't move.)
"Flash disk" as well as "drive" are just successors of earlier storage devices which all were round (including the inner part of diskettes) and all had moving parts. Of course, before those there were not round and not moving storage devices for information (I remember punched cards), but they were not yet mass-market products then.
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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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I think this is it: hard disks and programs are spelled that way because they came from the US, while compact discs are spelled that way because they came from Europe (Phillips is Dutch, I think).
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*I've been working with computers since the late 70s.
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It has also got to the point where a "disk" does not even have to be round, as in "flash disk", which is an increasingly popular term for a flash drive. (And again, "drive" is an odd word to use for something which doesn't move.)
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Of course, before those there were not round and not moving storage devices for information (I remember punched cards), but they were not yet mass-market products then.
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