Globally Speaking

How can you tell which country an email message is coming from? In many cases, email sent from an address outside the USA shows a two-letter code at the end, often called a country suffix or country code. Country codes are standardized throughout the world. Many of them are intuitive, but some aren't.

For example, abc@zyx.net.in is located in India (indicated by in), but abc@zyx.net.id is located in Indonesia (indicated by id).

def@wvu.net.ch is located in Switzerland (Confederation Helvetica, indicated by ch), but def@wvu.net.cn is located in the People's Republic of China (cn).

Some of the more commonly seen country codes are ca for Canada, uk for the United Kingdom, de for Germany (Deutschland), jp for Japan, fr for France, br for Brazil, hk for Hong Kong, and sg for Singapore. You will sometimes see us designating an address in the United States of America.

For a complete list of standard country suffixes currently in use, see Country Codes.