discus

noun

dis·​cus ˈdi-skəs 

plural discuses

: a heavy disk (as of wood or plastic) that is thicker in the center than at the perimeter and that is hurled for distance as a track-and-field event

also : the event

Illustration of discus

Examples of discus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fischl referenced the great Greek athletic nudes, such as Myron’s discus thrower, to achieve not just the portrayal of continuous energetic motion but also the suggestion that great human athleticism is about a stopping point, calculated containment. —Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2025

Because many of the contestants had never thrown a discus, let alone a nutria, and since most had been drinking all day, their timing tended to be off. —Nathaniel Rich, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025

For the women, final events are the pole vault, discus throw, 800-meter race, 400-meter hurdles, and the 5,000-meter race. —Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Aug. 2025

In addition to cheer, Hobbs is an accomplished member of the track team, excelling as a discus and shot put thrower. —Gabrielle Chenault, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin discus, borrowed from Greek dískos "discus," in Late Greek also "dish, round mirror, the sun's disk, gong," of uncertain origin

Note: For English loanwords going back to dískos see dais, desk, dish entry 1, and disk entry 1. Greek dískos is generally said to be a derivative of the verb dikeîn "to throw, cast, fling" (aorist only), presumably as a simplification of *dikskos, with a suffix -sk-. P. Chantraine is certain of this in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque, but less confident in La formation des noms en grec ancien, where this etymology is followed by a question mark (p. 405). Clearly, if such a suffix existed in Greek, the evidence is meager (and the productivity of the diminutive suffix -isko- is not relevant). R. Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek) suggests that the earlier form was *diks-, which together with dikeîn is of non-Indo-European substratal origin, citing Edzard Furnée, Die wichtigsten konsonantischen Erscheinungen des Vorgriechischen (Mouton, 1972), p. 297.

First Known Use

1581, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing discus

• the discus

Rhymes for discus

• viscous
• viscus
• hibiscus
• meniscus

Kids Definition

discus

noun

dis·​cus ˈdis-kəs 

plural discuses

: a heavy disk that is hurled for distance in a track-and-field event

also : the event

Medical Definition

discus

noun

dis·​cus ˈdis-kəs 

plural disci -ˌkī  -kē 

: any of various rounded and flattened anatomical structures