DNS is which type of naming system?

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DNS is a distributed hierarchical naming system. The domain namespace is organized as a tree with a root at the top, then levels like top‑level domains, second‑level domains, and subdomains. Authority is delegated to authoritative servers at each level, so no single place holds every name. When a name is looked up, resolvers query the appropriate servers in a stepwise or recursive fashion to obtain the corresponding IP address. This structure provides scalability, fault tolerance, and fast lookups through caching, because each zone can be managed independently and cached results are reused. The idea of a horizontal naming system implies a flat, level-by-level equality, which doesn’t describe how DNS uses delegation and hierarchy to organize and resolve names. While DNS involves a client-server interaction to perform lookups, its defining characteristic as a naming system is its distributed hierarchical organization.