soju

[soh-joo]

noun

1. a colorless, clear, distilled alcoholic beverage from Korea, often made from a mixture of rice and other starches such as sweet potatoes, wheat, barley, tapioca, etc..

   He sat down at the bar and ordered a bowl of cold noodles and a bottle of soju.

Word History and Origins

Origin of soju¹

First recorded in 1870–75; from Korean so “to burn, roast” (from Middle Chinese; cognate with Mandarin shāo, Cantonese siu, Japanese shō ) + ju “alcoholic beverage” (from Middle Chinese; cognate with Mandarin jiǔ, Cantonese zau, Japanese shu )

Example Sentences

He described heartbreaking traces: hundreds of neatly capped soju bottles and dusty boxes of gifts that were never opened.

Read more on Barron's

Huang even admitted he had indulged in another, more potent, Korean concoction -- "somaek", in which a shot of popular spirit soju is dropped into a glass of beer -- and that it had left him a little bleary-eyed the next day.

Read more on Barron's

During one production, shot near a creek where families picnicked, he watched the same depressing scene play out day after day: The adults would drink, gamble, fight and fling empty soju bottles, while the children would catch minnows in the water, occasionally cutting their feet on the broken glass.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Ashley presents Spill the Soju, a K-pop fan podcast, with her best friend Chelsea Toledo.

Read more on BBC

There are familiar scenes involving bottles of soju, moments of awkward conversation and garbled philosophizing in this film.

Read more on Los Angeles Times