A domain name is the human-readable address people type or click to reach a website or send email to — namebright.com , for instance — standing in for the numeric IP address that computers actually use to find each other on the internet. Instead of remembering a string of numbers, you remember a name.

Domain names are organized in a strict structure, read right to left: a top-level domain (TLD) like .com , a second-level domain — the name itself, like namebright — and optionally one or more subdomains in front of that, like www or help . The next article breaks that structure down piece by piece.

Owning a domain name doesn't automatically come with a website or email; it's the address, not the building. See Domain vs. Website vs. Hosting: What's the Difference? for how domains, websites, and hosting relate.