A quick reference for the words you'll see in the ENS App and across the docs.

A naming system on Ethereum. ENS turns readable names like alice.eth into wallet addresses, websites, and other data that apps can read.

A readable identifier registered on ENS. Most ENS names end in .eth (e.g. myname.eth). DNS names like example.com can also be imported into ENS.

A name created under a parent name. pay.alice.eth is a subname of alice.eth. The parent name's Manager creates subnames, and each subname has its own records. Sometimes called a subdomain.

A single segment of a name, separated by dots. In pay.alice.eth, the labels are pay, alice, and eth.

A name at the top of the naming hierarchy: .eth, .com, .xyz, and so on.

A name directly under a TLD. alice.eth and example.com are both second-level names.

The wallet that owns a name. The Owner can transfer the name, recover the Manager role, and has final control. Transfer the Owner role and you lose the name.

The wallet that looks after a name's records. It can change the ETH Address, set text records, create subnames and set the primary name, but it cannot transfer the name. This lets you hand someone day-to-day control while you keep ownership.

Claiming a .eth name that nobody holds. You choose the term: 28 days at the least, with no upper limit. Registration runs out at the end of the term, so you renew it to keep the name.

Paying to add more time to a name. The time is always added to the name's expiry date, not to today's date, so you never lose days you have already paid for. Anyone can renew a name, and renewing never changes who owns it.

The date a .eth name's registration ends. Renew before this date to keep the name.

The 28 days after a .eth name expires. During those 28 days anyone can renew the name at the normal price, and nobody else can register it. Renewing it never changes who owns it.

The 21 days after a name leaves its grace period. Anyone can register it then, with an additional fee on top of the normal price that starts at $100 million and drops fast to $0. A name in this window has to be registered as new rather than renewed. See Price Cooldown.

The current generation of ENS, on Ethereum. You can upgrade an ENSv1 name to ENSv2; a few wrapped names with certain fuses burnt can't upgrade.

Moving a name from ENSv1 to ENSv2. Each name you upgrade gets 62 days added to its registration, once. A name in its grace period has to be renewed first, then upgraded.

The data stored against an ENS name:

The ETH Address and primary name are records too; each has its own entry in this list.

The wallet your name points at. Apps read this record to know which wallet to show or send funds to on Ethereum when someone types yourname.eth. Set it from Edit Profile → Addresses in the ENS App, or in the name's records in ENS Explorer. A name not yet upgraded is edited in ENS Explorer.

The ENS name a wallet has set to represent itself. When wallets and dApps show yourname.eth instead of a 0x address, they're reading the primary name. Each address can have one primary name per network. See Set your primary name.

A text record that sets the profile image for your ENS name. Can be an uploaded image or an NFT you own.

The contract that registers .eth names and takes renewal payments. It holds each name's expiry date.

The contract that records who owns which name. On ENSv2 you can give your name its own registry, which is what lets it have subnames.

The contract that holds your name's records and hands them back when an app asks for them. Most names use the Public Resolver. You only need to change it if you are troubleshooting.

Two different lookups sit behind this. When an app turns alice.eth into an address, it is reading the name's records. When an app shows alice.eth for a connected wallet, it is reading that wallet's primary name. Wallets and apps that read ENS live pick up a change straight away; other sites can take some time to show it.

A name deposited into the Name Wrapper contract. Wrapped names can have permissions set via fuses.

A name in its original state, not in the Name Wrapper. Older .eth names can be unwrapped.

Permission settings on a wrapped name that restrict what the Manager can do. Some fuses are permanent once burned.

The traditional internet naming system (e.g. example.com). ENS can import DNS names so they work onchain too.

A way of adding a digital signature to DNS records. You need it to import a DNS name into ENS, because the signature is what proves the domain is yours.

A DNS name imported and recorded on Ethereum. Updates cost gas.

A DNS name whose ENS records live in its own DNS TXT records rather than onchain. Nothing is written to Ethereum, so it costs nothing to set up or change.

Ethereum, where .eth names are registered and where ownership lives.

Scaling networks built on Ethereum, like Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base. An ENS name can resolve to addresses on L2s and can carry a different primary name on each network.

The fee a network charges to process a transaction. You pay it on whichever chain the transaction runs on, and it rises and falls with how busy that chain is.

The standard that lets a name's records be stored somewhere other than Ethereum, such as an L2 or a server, and still be read as part of the name. It is what makes gasless records possible.

Common buttons you'll see in the ENS App:

Transfers, roles, subnames and resolvers are done in ENS Explorer. See What can I do in the ENS App and in ENS Explorer?