public domain

English

WOTD – 1 January 2022

Public domain icon

Etymology

From public (“able to be seen or known by everyone”) +‎ domain (“field or sphere of activity, expertise, or influence”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpʌblɪk də(ʊ)ˈmeɪn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpʌblɪk doʊˈmeɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn
• Hyphenation: pub‧lic do‧main

Noun

public domain (uncountable)

1. (also attributively) Often preceded by in the.
   1. The state of not being owned by anyone, and thus freely usable by everyone.
      1. (specifically, law) The realm of intellectual property which is not or no longer protected by copyrights or patents, and thus over which no person can establish a proprietary interest.

         As the copyright in this book has lapsed, it is now in the public domain.

   2. The state of not or no longer being confidential or secret.

      Very little information about the treaty is in the public domain.

2. (especially US) Land regarded as owned by the public, and not subject to a land patent or other forms of private ownership (for example, unowned prairie in the southwestern and western United States).

Derived terms

• Public Domain Day
• public domainness

Translations

state of not being owned by anyone, and thus freely usable by everyone

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公有的 (gòngyǒude)

• Swahili: uwanja wa umma

realm of intellectual property which is not or no longer protected by copyrights or patents

• Afrikaans: publieke domein, openbare besit
• Arabic: ملكية عامة
• Armenian: հանրության սեփականություն (hanrutʻyan sepʻakanutʻyun)
• Assamese: ৰাজহুৱা ক্ষেত্ৰ (razohua khetro)
• Asturian: dominiu públicu
• Azerbaijani: ictimai mülkiyyət, ictimai varidat
• Basque: jabari publikoa
• Belarusian: грамадcкі набытак (hramadcki nabytak)
• Bengali: পাবলিক ডোমেইন (pabolik ḍōmein)
• Bulgarian: обществено достояние (obštestveno dostojanie)
• Catalan: domini públic m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公共領域／公共领域 (gōnggòng lǐngyù), 公共域 (gōnggòngyù), 公有領域／公有领域 (gōngyǒu lǐngyù)

• Danish: public domain, offentligt domæne
• Dutch: publiek domein (nl) n
• Esperanto: publika havaĵo, publikaĵo, publikhavaĵo
• Estonian: avalik omand
• Finnish: tekijänoikeuksista vapaa sisältö (content in the public domain), vapaus tekijänoikeuksista (quality of being in the public domain), tekijänoikeudettomuus, tekijänoikeusvapaus; tekijänoikeuksista vapaa, tekijänoikeudeton (attributively)
• French: domaine public (fr) m
• Galician: dominio público m
• Georgian: საყოველთაო საკუთრება (saq̇oveltao saḳutreba)
• German: Public Domain f, Gemeinfreiheit (de) f, gemeinfrei (de) (attributively)
• Greek: κοινό κτήμα (el) (koinó ktíma)
• Gujarati: પબ્લિક ડોમેન (pablik ḍomen)
• Hebrew: רשות הציבור
• Hindi: सार्वजनिक डोमेन (sārvajnik ḍomen)
• Hungarian: ingyenes (hu) (attributively), közkincs (hu), közkincsbe/közkincshez tartozó (attributively), szabad felhasználás, szabad (hu) (attributively), szabad felhasználású (attributively), szabadon felhasználható/használható/terjeszthető (attributively)
• Icelandic: almenningur (is) m
• Ido: publika domeno
• Indonesian: domain publik, ranah umum
• Interlingua: dominio public
• Irish: an fearann poiblí
• Italian: pubblico dominio (it) m
• Japanese: パブリックドメイン (ja) (paburikkudomein)
• Korean: 퍼블릭 도메인 (peobeullik domein)
• Lao: ສາທາລະນະສົມບັດ (sā thā la na som bat)
• Latvian: neaizsargājams darbs
• Limburgish: public domain, publiek domein
• Lithuanian: viešo naudojimo
• Luxembourgish: domaine public
• Macedonian: јавен домен (javen domen), јавна сопственост (javna sopstvenost)
• Malay: domain awam
• Malayalam: പൊതുസഞ്ചയം (potusañcayaṁ)
• Marathi: सार्वजनिक अधिक्षेत्र (sārvajnik adhikṣetra)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: offentlig eiendom

  Nynorsk: offentleg eigedom

• Occitan: domeni public
• Persian: مالکیت عمومی
• Polish: domena publiczna (pl) f, własność publiczna f
• Portuguese: domínio público m
• Romanian: domeniu public (ro) n
• Russian: обще́ственное достоя́ние (ru) n (obščéstvennoje dostojánije), всео́бщее достоя́ние n (vseóbščeje dostojánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ја̑вно вла̑снӣштво n

  Roman: jȃvno vlȃsnīštvo n

• Slovene: javna last
• Spanish: dominio público (es) m
• Swahili: uwanja wa umma
• Swedish: allmän egendom c
• Tagalog: public domain, pampublikong dominyo
• Tamil: பொது உரிமைப் பரப்பு (potu urimaip parappu)
• Telugu: ప్రజోపయోగ పరిధి (prajōpayōga paridhi)
• Thai: สาธารณสมบัติ (th) (sǎa-taa-rá-ná-sǒm-bàt)
• Turkish: kamusal alan
• Ukrainian: суспільне надбання (suspilʹne nadbannja)
• Urdu: دائرہ عام
• Uzbek: ijtimoiy mulk
• Vietnamese: phạm vi công cộng
• Welsh: parth cyhoeddus
• Zazaki: malê şari

state of not or no longer being confidential or secret

land regarded as owned by the public, and not subject to a land patent or other forms of private ownership

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 公地 (zh) (gōngdì), 公有土地 (gōngyǒu tǔdì)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: yhteismaa (fi), julkinen maa
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• public property
• 🅮

Further reading

• public domain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia