soy sauce

noun

variants or less commonly soy or chiefly British soya sauce
: a brown, salty liquid that is made by subjecting soybeans and roasted grain (such as wheat) to long fermentation in brine and is used especially in Asian cooking and as a condiment
At its most basic, soy sauce is a fermented liquid made from soybeans and wheat. Soybeans contribute a strong, pungent taste, while wheat lends sweetness.Lisa McManuse
My most recent kick has been Chinese. For more than a year now I've been stir-frying everything in ginger and garlic and adding soy sauce.Andrew A. Rooney
see shoyu

Examples of soy sauce in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Today, less than 1 percent of the soy sauce made in Japan is produced this way, aging from six months to three years in bamboo and cedar barrels called kioke. Megan Zhang, Saveur, 9 May 2024 Thick cut chunks of char siu and sunny side up eggs cover a bed of garlic jasmine rice, with tiny concentrated cups of dark soy sauce and tart pickled vegetables on the side. Louisa Kung Liu Chu, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 2024 No need to be alarmed about all the garlic–the orange juice and soy sauce mellow it out. Kara Peeler, Sunset Magazine, 1 May 2024 For a bird reminiscent of both Cantonese soy sauce chicken and American Chinese orange chicken, Genevieve Ko pairs poultry with whole, peel-on tangerines, yielding a remarkable amount of flavor from just a few ingredients. Tanya Sichynsky, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024 To prepare sauce, mix sesame oil with soy sauce, chicken broth, black pepper, lime juice, cornstarch and brown sugar. Bethany Thayer, Detroit Free Press, 20 Apr. 2024 Chris adds vegetable broth (Chris, like me, is a fan of Better Than Bouillon to speed things along), soy sauce and a shiitake stir-fry sauce in place of the oyster sauce typically used in pancit. Julia Turshen, Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2024 This becomes a component for three key Korean ingredients: ganjang (soy sauce), doenjang (thick soybean paste) and gochujang (spicy paste made from gochu chile). Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024 Pour a generous amount of sweet soy sauce and enjoy the satisfying crunch of the rice at the edge of the pot. Tiffany May, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'soy sauce.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1775, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of soy sauce was in 1775

Dictionary Entries Near soy sauce

Cite this Entry

“Soy sauce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soy%20sauce. Accessed 14 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

soy sauce

noun
: a brown sauce made from soybeans and used especially in Chinese and Japanese cooking
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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