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

Mariscal sped up plans for Momofuku Goods, a line of pantry staples like soy sauce and instant noodles, which launched in the fall of 2020 and reportedly did $1 million dollars in sales in its first week. —Eric Ryan, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025

Toss with a simple sauce of low-sodium soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. —Johna Burdeos, Health, 3 Feb. 2025

The simmer mellows the vinegar and soy sauce into a sauce interlaced with pepper, garlic and something herbal but not immediately traceable — that’s the bay leaves. —The New York Times News Service Syndicate, The Denver Post, 27 Jan. 2025

This included dishes from Tongshan in China’s Hubei Province, north of Guangdong, such as chickens poached in an inky mother soy sauce and spareribs tossed in a garlic-ginger glaze. —Elyse Inamine, Bon Appétit, 17 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1775, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for soy sauce

• across
• backcross
• crisscross
• lacrosse
• recross
• tomas
• albatross
• applesauce
• barabbas
• helios
• kshatriyas
• blas

Kids Definition

soy sauce

noun

: a brown sauce made from soybeans and used especially in Chinese and Japanese cooking