The difference between Classes, Objects, and Instances

Question

What is a class, an object and an instance in Java?

Answer 1

I like Jesper's explanation in layman terms

By improvising examples from Jesper's answer,

class House {
// blue print for House Objects
}

class Car {
// blue print for Instances of Class Car 
}

House myHouse = new House();
Car myCar = new Car();

myHouse and myCar are objects

myHouse is an instance of House (relates Object-myHouse to its Class-House) myCar is an instance of Car

in short

"myHouse is an instance of Class House" which is same as saying "myHouse is an Object of type House"