kaya

¹ American  

[ka-ya] / ˈka ya /

noun

1. an evergreen tree, Torreya nucifera, native to Japan and South Korea, cultivated for its wood and seeds.

2. the wood harvested from this tree.

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kaya ² American  

[kahy-uh] / ˈkaɪ ə /

noun

1. a jam made from eggs, palm sugar, and coconut milk, often flavored with pandan leaves: common in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

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Example Sentences

“We use this as a filling for our kaya buns, a laminated pastry that has been known to convert even alleged coconut haters,” she says.

From Salon • Feb. 3, 2025

Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen, also in Brooklyn, makes sambal, a traditional chili paste, and other products found in Malaysia like kaya jam.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 4, 2022

Please don’t miss the less ostentatious kaya toast, a buttery grilled sandwich filled with a thick, sweet pandan-tinted coconut jam that the cooks make themselves.

From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2018

After a red-eye from India, we dashed out for a Singaporean breakfast of kaya toast and then retreated to the hotel for a few hours of repose before rejoining the living later that day.

From Washington Post • Jun. 16, 2016

Your elder brother is very rich— Towkay punya abang baniak kaya.

From A Manual of the Malay language With an Introductory Sketch of the Sanskrit Element in Malay by Maxwell, William Edward, Sir