Jute is a long, soft, shiny plant fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which see for botanical information and other uses. Jute is one of the cheapest natural fibres, and is second only to cotton in amount produced and variety of uses. Jute fibres are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose and lignin. It falls into the Bast fiber category (fiber collected from bast or skin of the plant) along with Kenaf, Industrial Hemp, Ramie,and Banana fibers.

Jute is called in different names in different parts of the world. For instance, jute fiber is often called Hessian Fiber, jute fabrics are also called Hessian Cloth, and jute sacks are called Gunny Bags in some European countries. The fabric made from Jute is popularly known as Burlap in North America. In Spanish, Jute is called Yute and Jute fabrics are called Arpillera. Due to the confusion with Jute (The German race), the jute fiber is called Jutefaser in German. The Portuguese and Brazillians call it Juta. The Italians also adopted the name Juta, but the most popular name is Iuta and some call it Corcoro. In Chinese, Jute is called Huang-ma (黄麻), which means Yellow Hemp, as Jute is very similar to Industrial Hemp and blooms yellow flowers.

- Multi-lingual research by GFTCL