Domain Name Glossary

Navigate the world of domains with confidence. Here are the most common technical terms explained in plain English.

A

A Record Address Record. A type of DNS record that points a domain name to a specific IPv4 address.
Administrative Contact The individual or entity authorized to make administrative changes to a domain name, such as transferring it or updating contact info.

C

ccTLD Country Code Top-Level Domain. Two-letter domain extensions assigned to specific countries or territories (e.g., .uk, .de, .ca).
CNAME Record Canonical Name Record. A DNS record that points one domain or subdomain to another domain name instead of an IP address.
Cybersquatting The practice of registering names, especially well-known company or brand names, as Internet domains, in the hope of reselling them at a profit.

D

DNS Domain Name System. The system that translates human-readable domain names (like example.com) into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other.
DNS Propagation The time it takes for DNS changes to be updated across all servers on the internet, typically taking anywhere from a few hours to 48 hours.
Domain Privacy A service offered by registrars to hide a registrant's personal contact information from the public WHOIS database.

E

EPP Code Extensible Provisioning Protocol Code (also called Auth Code). A secret password used to transfer a domain from one registrar to another.

G

gTLD Generic Top-Level Domain. Standard domain extensions like .com, .net, and .org that are not tied to a specific country.

I

ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The non-profit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet.
IP Address Internet Protocol Address. A numerical label like 192.0.2.1 that is assigned to each device connected to a computer network.

M

MX Record Mail Exchange Record. A DNS record that directs email to a mail server.

N

Nameserver A server that stores DNS records (A, MX, CNAME, etc.) for a domain and answers queries from other computers about where to find the website or email services.
New gTLD New Generic Top-Level Domains created after 2012, including .app, .blog, .shop, and hundreds of others.

P

Parked Domain A registered domain name that is not connected to a website or email service, often showing a placeholder page (parking page).
Premium Domain A domain name that has been previously registered and is up for sale at a price higher than the standard registration fee, usually due to its value (short length, keywords).

R

Redemption Period A phase after a domain expires and the grace period ends, during which the owner can still reclaim the domain but typically for a much higher fee.
Registrant The person or organization who registers and holds the rights to use a specific domain name.
Registrar An accredited company that sells domain names to the public (e.g., GoDaddy, Namecheap).
Registry The organization that manages the top-level domain extension (e.g., Verisign manages .com).

S

Subdomain A division of a domain name that comes before the main domain, such as 'blog' in 'blog.example.com'.

T

TLD Top-Level Domain. The last part of a domain name (e.g., .com, .org). Also known as a domain extension.
TTL Time To Live. A setting in DNS records that determines how long a resolver should cache a DNS record before requesting a new update from the authoritative nameserver.

W

WHOIS A public protocol and database that stores information about the registered users of an Internet resource, such as a domain name or IP address block.