What is the Query DSL in Elasticsearch?

The Query DSL (Domain Specific Language) is Elasticsearch's JSON-based language for defining search queries. Every search request body contains a query key whose value is a nested JSON object describing the query. The three most common leaf queries are: match (full-text search against text fields — the most frequently used), term (exact value match against keyword/numeric fields — no analysis), and range (matches documents where a field value falls within a specified range). Compound queries like bool combine multiple leaf queries with logical operators.