---
id: "special-use-domain-names"
kind: "glossary-term"
title: "special-use domain names"
language: "en"
category: "DNS and technical foundations"
updated: "2026-10-04T14:01:23Z"
canonical: "https://tldlog.com/glossary/special-use-domain-names/"
translations:
  es: "https://tldlog.com/es/glosario/nombres-dominio-uso-especial/"
  de: "https://tldlog.com/de/glossar/special-use-domainnamen/"
  fr: "https://tldlog.com/fr/glossaire/noms-domaine-usage-special/"
  it: "https://tldlog.com/it/glossario/nomi-dominio-uso-speciale/"
  pt-BR: "https://tldlog.com/pt/glossario/nomes-dominio-uso-especial/"
  ru: "https://tldlog.com/ru/glossariy/domennye-imena-spetsialnogo-naznacheniya/"
  zh-Hans: "https://tldlog.com/zh/cihui/teshu-yongtu-yuming/"
---

# special-use domain names

Names reserved for technical uses, not registered or looked up in the public DNS like normal domains. Examples are .local for devices finding each other on a local network, home.arpa for home networks, .onion for the Tor network, .alt for naming systems outside the DNS, and .test. ICANN reserved .internal for private networks by a separate decision.

## related terms

- [name collision](https://tldlog.com/glossary/name-collision/)
- [alternative root](https://tldlog.com/glossary/alternative-root/)
- [IANA](https://tldlog.com/glossary/iana/)
- [root zone](https://tldlog.com/glossary/root-zone/)
- [.arpa](https://tldlog.com/glossary/arpa/)