What Is Domain name? Domain Glossary

Why it matters

A domain name is a brand asset as well as a technical address. Buyers use it for their website and email, so a weak name costs trust and traffic. Sellers hold it as property that can gain or lose value. Ownership is really a registration right, renewed with a registrar at a registry. For example, a startup may launch on a hyphenated name, then buy a cleaner .com once it has funding. A common mistake is to treat the name as owned forever. It lapses if the owner forgets to renew it.

Source: iana.org

Where we use this term

Related terms

Top-level domain (TLD): The top-level domain is the last label in a domain name, the part after the final dot. In icann.org, the TLD is org. It sits at the top of the naming hierarchy of the Domain Name System.
Second-level domain (SLD): The part of a domain name directly to the left of the top-level domain. In example.com, "example" is the second-level domain. It is the label a registrant actually chooses and registers.
Registrar: A registrar is a company that sells domain registrations to the public. It checks that a name is available, sends the registration to the registry, collects owner details and lets the owner manage settings afterward.
Registrant: A registrant is the person or organization listed as the holder of a domain name registration. The registrant holds the right to use the name and is responsible for renewals and accurate contact details.
Domain Name System (DNS): The Domain Name System is the Internet's phonebook. It translates human-readable domain names into the numeric IP addresses that computers use to find each other.

All 205 terms

Why it matters

Where we use this term

Buying or selling a domain?