In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD or 2LD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD.
Second-level domains commonly refer to the organization that registered the domain name with a domain name registrar. Some domain name registries introduce a second-level hierarchy to a TLD that indicates the type of entity intended to register an SLD under it. For example, in the .uk namespace a college or other academic institution would register under the .ac.uk ccSLD, while companies would register under .co.uk. Strictly speaking, domains like .ac.uk and .co.uk are second level domain themselves, since they are right below a TLD. A list of the official TLDs can be found at icann.org and iana.org. An ordinal-free term to denote domains under which people can register their own domain name is public suffix domain (PSD).