A domain name has a number of components.

For example, this domain name:

www.address.com.cn

has the following components:

www indicates it is a worldwide web address

address is the domain name that you register

com indicates the category of domain name you have registered, and is called a top level domain name

cn indicates the country of origin (also known as a country code top-level domain), namely Mainland China in this example.

Other top level domain names include:

• biz indicates a business
• edu indicates an educational institution
• gov indicates a government department
• org indicates a non-profit organisation

In Hong Kong it is not unusual for a domain name to be registered without any top level domain name. In that case, the domain name could be registered as:

• www.address.hk

  It is not necessary for every domain name to indicate the country of origin. Domain names that originate in the United States do not have a country of origin component in the domain name.

The following domain name for example does not show a country of origin:

• www.address.com

  Anyone can register a domain name without a country of origin, not just applicants in the United States.