You may notice that most discs are marked with a set of four numbers. This is a (for the most part) industry-wide standard for describing flight patterns, and having a basic understanding of them can help you know what type of disc you’re looking at without having to go out and throw it.
The first number is speed, which is self-explanatory. Discs with a higher number are designed to travel farther and faster, while lower numbers will fly at a slower speed over shorter distances. The downside is usually that higher speed discs are harder to throw accurately.
The next step is glide, which describes the disc’s ability to stay in the air for longer. A higher glide disc will trap air beneath it as it moves, which can give you more time in the air, but that also means it’s more susceptible to wind gusts.
Spin and fade refer to the nature of the disc’s flight path and are a bit more nuanced. As the puck leaves your hand, it will naturally lean to the right, but a lower spin will make it lean harder and a higher spin will keep it more stable. Fade, on the other hand, describes how much the disc will curve to the left after completing its initial tilt. Note that this is for right-handed players throwing backhand, so if you’re left-handed, spin is how much you initially lean to the left and fade is how much you curve to the right.