What is "hostname"

n. 1 (context computing English) the unique name by which any device attached to a network is known. 2 (context computing Internet English) a computer or other network device's Internet domain name; a fully qualified hostname 3 (context computing Internet English) the portion of a computer's Internet domain name that comes before the first period; an unqualified hostname

In computer networking, a hostname (archaically nodename) is a label that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network and that is used to identify the device in various forms of electronic communication, such as the World Wide Web. Hostnames may be simple names consisting of a single word or phrase, or they may be structured.

On the Internet, hostnames may have appended the name of a Domain Name System (DNS) domain, separated from the host-specific label by a period ("dot"). In the latter form, a hostname is also called a domain name. If the domain name is completely specified, including a top-level domain of the Internet, then the hostname is said to be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). Hostnames that include DNS domains are often stored in the Domain Name System together with the IP addresses of the host they represent for the purpose of mapping the hostname to an address, or the reverse process.