Hive is a data warehouse infrastructure tool that simplifies processing structured data on Hadoop, initially developed by Facebook and later maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. It utilizes HiveQL, a SQL-like language, for querying and operates through a series of components including a meta store, execution engine, and supports various data types and storage techniques. Hive's features include schema storage, support for OLAP, and table partitioning, enabling efficient data management and analysis.