Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
nounerect bushy hairy annual herb having trifoliate leaves and purple to pink flowers; extensively cultivated for food and forage and soil improvement but especially for its nutritious oil-rich seeds; native to Asia
nounthe most highly proteinaceous vegetable known; the fruit of the soybean plant is used in a variety of foods and as fodder (especially as a replacement for animal protein)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Chinese醬油
- ja-mid-lat醤油
- Japanese醤油
- Japaneseそや
- Dutchsoja
- Englishsoya
Borrowed from Dutch soja; from the Satsuma dialectal Japanese そや (soya), which is the topicalized form of 醤油 (そい, soi) (cognate to standard Japanese 醤油 (しょうゆ, shōyu)), from Late Middle Japanese 醤油 (しやうゆ, shiyauyu), orthographic borrowing from Middle Chinese 醬油 (tsjàng-yuw), from 醬 (tsjangᴴ, “bean paste”) + 油 (“oil”).
More words from Dutch, Japanese, ja-mid-lat
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with soya
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
soya. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soya
“soya.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soya. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soya,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soya.
Source: soya on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.