The Okra is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. Originating in Africa, the plant is cultivated in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions around the world.

The okra name is most often used in the United States and the Philippines, is of West African origin and is cognate with "ọ́kụ̀rụ̀" in Igbo, a language spoken in Nigeria. The okra plant is often known as "Lady's Fingers" outside of the United States. In various Bantu languages, okra is called "kingombo" or a variant thereof, and this is the origin of its name in Portuguese ("quiabo"), Spanish, Dutch and French, and also of the name "gumbo", used in parts of the United States and English-speaking Caribbean for either the vegetable, or a stew based on it. In the United Kingdom, the okra plant is often called as "bhindi", from its Hindi name "bhindi" or "bhendi". In South and South East Europe it is known as bamya (bamija).