soya bean

British  

/ ˈsɔɪə, ˈsɔɪˌbiːn /

noun

1. an Asian bean plant, Glycine max (or G. soja ), cultivated for its nutritious seeds, for forage, and to improve the soil

2. the seed of this plant, used as food, forage, and as the source of an oil

---

Etymology

Origin of soya bean

C17 soya, via Dutch soya from Japanese shōyu, from Chinese chiang yu, from chiang paste + yu sauce

Example Sentences

Taylor says the buns are handmade in a bakery that handles nuts, the oil the kitchen uses is soya bean vegetable oil and sesame seeds on the buns "cover the entire kitchen".

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

But as trade talks progress, Washington is eyeing bigger farm exports - maize, soya bean, cotton and corn - to help narrow its $45bn trade deficit with India.

From BBC • Jul. 1, 2025

For instance, in the past five years or so, US biorefineries have bought a growing share of US soya bean harvests.

From Scientific American • Dec. 22, 2022

“There are no organic cotton fields here,” said Dashrath Yadav, a sugar cane and soya bean farmer.

From New York Times • Feb. 13, 2022

The oils usually employed in the manufacture of potash soaps are cottonseed oil, corn oil, soya bean oil, olive oil foots, red oil, cocoanut oil, grease and the various train oils.

From Soap-Making Manual A Practical Handbook on the Raw Materials, Their Manipulation, Analysis and Control in the Modern Soap Plant. by Thomssen, E. G.