.ch is the

country code A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed. The term ''country code'' frequently re ...

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

( ccTLD) for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the

Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information ...

of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

Naming

The domain ''ch'', as with other ccTLDs, is based on the ISO 3166-2 code for Switzerland derived from ''Confoederatio Helvetica'' (Helvetic Confederation),From the onlin
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
/ref> the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name for the country, which was used because of its neutrality with regard to the four official

languages of Switzerland The four national languages of Switzerland are German language, German, French language, French, Italian language, Italian, and Romansh language, Romansh. German, French, and Italian maintain equal status as official languages at the national ...

Registration

Made available in 1987, only two years after .com, it is administered by SWITCH Information Technology Services. Second-level domain names must be at least three letters long. Two-letter subdomain names are restricted to the Swiss cantons, as well as the domain ch.ch of the

Federal Chancellery of Switzerland The Federal Chancellery of Switzerland is a department-level agency of the federal administration of Switzerland. It is the staff organisation of the federal government, the Federal Council (Switzerland), Federal Council. Since 2024, it has bee ...

. The only exception has been the former domain of the Expo.02 which was held in Switzerland, www.expo.02.ch. Registrations of

internationalized domain name An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in non-Latin script or alphabet or in the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacrit ...

s have been accepted since March 2004.

In the Chinese domain market

.ch has been of a rising interest to Chinese domain investors for several reasons. According to EuropeID.com, the domain .ch still has many valuable English keywords and short letter and number combinations left. A contributing factor may be because the majority of .ch registrations are in German, leaving many English words available. In addition, with two million domains under .ch being registered, most of the reserved domains have the European market in mind, allowing valuable domains for other languages such as Chinese keywords in the Latin script being registered at a normal price.

Domain hacks

The .ch domain is very popular in domain hacks, used to spell words and names that end in "ch". For example,

Techcrunch TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...

's tcrn.ch, as well as the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

's myumi.ch and umresear.ch. This phenomenon is not limited to English; to take another example, the domain scha.ch (''Schach,'' German for "

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

") has been registered.

.swiss

The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) has begun registering .swiss domains as of 7 September 2015 meant to augment the traditional .ch TLD. Applicants must currently have a "registered place of business and a physical administrative base in Switzerland" to apply.

References

External links

IANA .ch whois information

.ch NIC registry
Country code top-level domains Communications in Switzerland Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries members Internet in Switzerland Internet properties established in 1987 {{compu-domain-stub sv:Toppdomän#C