discus

noun

dis·​cus ˈdi-skəs How to pronounce discus (audio)
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

Illustration of discus

Examples of discus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Breland’s discus throw of 180 feet, 3 inches was the best among Orange County non-seniors last season. Steve Fryer, Orange County Register, 16 Feb. 2024 Becky has been allowed to run on her school’s cross country team and throw discus and shot put on the track and field team since the appeals court reinstated a previous injunction against the law in February. Jo Yurcaba, NBC News, 28 Oct. 2023 In the meantime, Becky, who is in eighth grade, has thrown herself into discus and shot put. Jo Yurcaba, NBC News, 28 Oct. 2023 Cassidy also secured the Minutemen’s only other first-place result in discus throw (157-10). Matty Wasserman, BostonGlobe.com, 27 May 2023 Oregon State’s Jade Whitfield is entered in the women’s discus finals, also slated for Saturday night. oregonlive, 9 June 2023 His state-winning discus throw of 174-8 tied for seventh-best in MPSSAA state championship meet history. Anthony Maluso, Baltimore Sun, 23 June 2023 The much-heavier discus used in the Olympics will last about 16 seconds. David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Aug. 2021 On the men’s team, junior Eddie Juszczak, a Lowell graduate, placed 10th in the discus with a mark of 159 feet, 6 inches — the No. 3 discus throw in program history. Dave Melton, chicagotribune.com, 17 May 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'discus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of discus was in 1581

Dictionary Entries Near discus

Cite this Entry

“Discus.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discus. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

discus

noun
dis·​cus ˈdis-kəs How to pronounce discus (audio)
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 How to pronounce discus (audio)
plural disci -ˌkī How to pronounce discus (audio) -kē How to pronounce discus (audio)
: any of various rounded and flattened anatomical structures

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