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Glite Dictionary
optical disk

optical disk

1 3.7
A flat round disk that holds computer files for a laser to read
  • noun
  • /ˈɑptɪkəl dɪsk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : disco óptico
  • Furthermore, optical disks are extremely robust and relatively impervious to wear or to standard magnetic fields.
  • optical disk drives
  • optical disk media

Examples

  • Many people still use an optical disk to store their favorite movies and music collections.

  • The only ones not destroyed will be those on optical disks or those extremely well protected against magnetic fields.

    Blog text (29)

  • In this paper, we review the technology behind the optical disk drives used in IBM's optical storage systems.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Most current optical disks consist of tracks separated by grooves.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Optical disk drives provide an effective solution to the growing need for removable high-capacity storage.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W), and DVD.

    Blog text (19)

  • He saved his important files on several optical disks to ensure they would not be lost.

  • The optical disk can hold large amounts of data and is often used for data backups.

Synonyms

CD
vsoptical disk
396 1.4

A small round disc that stores music and other digital files

is broader, covering this and other disc types
compact disk
vsoptical disk
  • US
12 2.5

A small round shiny disc that stores music, videos, or computer files read by a laser

is a general name for that kind of laser-read storage disc
magneto-optical disc
vsoptical disk
  • Archaic
8.0

A disc you can erase and write many times using light and magnets to store data

stores data as tiny pits read by laser rather than using magnetic rewriting

How Much

BD
1 5.1
optical disk
  • Specialized
1 3.7
compact disk
  • US
12 2.5

Surface Forms

optical disk singular
optical disks plural

Morphology

optical + disk

The compound is directly compositional: 'optical' (related to light/optics) combined with 'disk' (a round plate) yields a disk that operates by optical means — i.e. media like CDs/DVDs read by lasers. This technical but transparent formation is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Optical disk: The noun optical disk comes from how it works: a flat disk is read by a beam of light, so 'optical' means 'using light'. That's why the name is used for a round plate that 'stores data' and is 'read by light'.