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

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

Kalani Lewis, shot put/javelin, Boynton Beach junior: Most proud of winning the shot put event at every regular season meet, including county and districts; best throw was 11.81m; also got her PR in discus (31.09) and javelin (30.18m). —Gary Curreri, Sun Sentinel, 20 June 2025

Throwing it like a spiked discus with LB is another move in your considerable arsenal. —Griff Griffin, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 May 2025

Steve played football and volleyball at his Newport Beach, CA high school, only to attend Wake Forest University on a discus and shotput scholarship. —Andrew Watman, Forbes, 3 Mar. 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