ICANN Acronyms and Terms
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R
root
The topmost, all-encompassing authority in any hierarchical naming or numbering system. Within ICANN, this term is often used to refer to the root zone in the Domain Name System.
More generally, root can refer to the central authority for a hierarchical system. In this sense, it is sometimes used to refer to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, which maintain the root for many of the Internet’s naming and numbering systems.
The IANA functions are delivered by Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), an affiliate of ICANN.