In Python, a docstring is a string literal used to provide documentation and information about a function, module, class, or method. It is placed as the first statement after the object’s definition and is enclosed within triple quotes (''' or """). Docstrings are used to describe the purpose, usage, and behavior of the code to help developers understand and use it correctly. Docstrings serve as documentation strings and are accessible through the __doc__ attribute of the object. They can be single-line or multi-line, and it is a recommended practice to use triple quotes for consistency and to accommodate longer descriptions.