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
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Veronica Fraley, the 2024 NCAA discus champion, is currently working on her second masters degree at Vanderbilt University while pursuing discus throw professionally. Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 5 Aug. 2024 During the Paris Olympics over the summer, he was dedicated to the U.S. squad, pledging $1,000 and a cruise for all the members of the U.S. Women’s Water Polo team and helping to cover rent costs for 24-year-old discus thrower Veronica Fraley. Rania Aniftos, Billboard, 10 Oct. 2024 The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) confirmed that Dutch discus thrower Ingrid van Kranen was the first transgender Paralympian, who competed at the Rio Paralympics in 2016 and died in 2021. Reuters, NBC News, 10 Sep. 2024 After setting a new world record in the men’s discus throw in April, Cal junior Mykolas Alekna entered the Summer Olympics as a gold medal favorite. Jason Mastrodonato, The Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for discus 

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 8 Nov. 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

More from Merriam-Webster on discus

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