Domain names are resolved by DNS name servers. These name servers resolve a given domain name from right to left. When you goto the domain "entic.net", the following queries are done, in order:
root@tail:~# dig +trace www.entic.net ; <<>> DiG 9.3.6-P1 <<>> +trace www.entic.net ;; global options: printcmd . 147403 IN NS L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. . 147403 IN NS F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. ;; Received 500 bytes from 66.151.145.33#53(66.151.145.33) in 1 ms net. 172800 IN NS a.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS b.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS c.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS d.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS e.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS f.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS g.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS h.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS i.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS j.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS k.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS l.gtld-servers.net. net. 172800 IN NS m.gtld-servers.net. ;; Received 491 bytes from 199.7.83.42#53(L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET) in 10 ms entic.net. 172800 IN NS ns1.everydns.net. entic.net. 172800 IN NS ns2.everydns.net. entic.net. 172800 IN NS ns3.everydns.net. entic.net. 172800 IN NS ns4.everydns.net. ;; Received 176 bytes from 192.5.6.30#53(a.gtld-servers.net) in 80 ms www.entic.net. 7200 IN CNAME entic.net. entic.net. 86400 IN NS ns1.everydns.net. entic.net. 86400 IN NS ns2.everydns.net. entic.net. 86400 IN NS ns3.everydns.net. entic.net. 86400 IN NS ns4.everydns.net. ;; Received 190 bytes from 208.76.62.100#53(ns1.everydns.net) in 1 ms
The queries are done in this order, as shown above:
"." -> "net." -> "entic.net." -> "www.entic.net."
You ask a DNS server for information about ".", you get back a list of servers mapped it. You then ask these servers for information about "net.", you get back another list. You then ask those list of servers for information about "entic.net.". This process follows, until we get back the final IP address information for www.entic.net. Note, the "." information is built into the DNS servers (e.g. called the ROOT cache).
There you have it, a quick summary of a trace of a domain lookup done by servers all over the world.