soy
n. uncountablen. a food made from soybeans, like milk or tofu. In recent years, people also use it as a joke to describe a man who is not very strong or masculine.
n. a protein-rich legume used to produce milk, oil, and tofu. In contemporary internet slang, it is used pejoratively to describe men perceived as lacking traditional masculine traits or being overly sensitive.
I prefer to drink soy milk in my coffee.
The restaurant offers several soy alternatives for customers who do not eat meat or dairy.
While soy remains a staple of global agriculture and vegetarian diets, the term has been co-opted by online subcultures as a shorthand for perceived weakness or lack of virility.
Etymology tree Chinese 醬油 /酱油 (jiàngyóu)obor. Japanese 醤油 Japanese そやbor. Dutch sojabor. English soy 1670s; borrowed from Dutch soja, from the Satsuma pronunciation of Japanese 醤油 (soi), variant of the standard Japanese 醤油 (shōyu). Doublet of shoyu, orthographic borrowing from Middle Chinese 醬油 (tsjàng-yuw), from 醬 (tsjangᴴ, “bean paste”) + 油 (“oil”).
Borrowed from French soie (“silk”), soye, from Middle French soye, from Old French soie, earlier seie, from Latin sēta, saeta, from Proto-Italic saitā, from Proto-Indo-European séh₂ito-, sh₂éyto-, from sh₂ey-, *seh₂i- (“to bind”). Doublet of seta.
Uncountable when referring to the food or the plant; often used as a modifier before other nouns like 'milk' or 'sauce'.