soy sauce

American  

[soi saws] / ˈsɔɪ ˌsɔs /

especially British, soya sauce

noun

soy sauces plural

1. a salty, fermented sauce prepared from soybeans, used in East Asian cuisine.

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soy sauce British  

/ sɔɪ /

noun

1. Also called: soya sauce.  a salty dark brown sauce made from fermented soya beans, used esp in Japanese and Chinese cookery

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• soy sauces
  plural

Etymology

Origin of soy sauce

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

soy sauce

Pour in a dash of soy sauce or fish sauce.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

Each typically contains little plastic sachets of mustard and soy sauce.

From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026

Cook ground chicken in a pan with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.

From Salon ● May 22, 2026

Plus, tech stocks power the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to new records, and a soy sauce maker is one of the few still using ancient techniques.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

She returned, without the crab, but with more bowls of soy sauce, ginger, and scallions.

From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan