# tofu

/ˈtoʊfu/ (US) · /tˈəʊfuː/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/tofu
Updated: 2026-08-27

## Senses

### 1. food

noun · CEFR A2

a soft, white food made from soy milk that is used in cooking, especially in Asian dishes.

For teachers: a protein-rich food made by curdling soy milk and pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks.

- I like to fry tofu with vegetables and ginger for a quick dinner.
- The chef marinated the firm tofu in a blend of soy sauce and sesame oil before searing it to achieve a crisp exterior.

### 2. missing character symbol

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a small empty box that appears on a screen when your computer does not have the right font to show a character.

For teachers: a rectangular placeholder symbol displayed by a computer system when a character is not supported by the active font.

- The website was full of tofu because my old browser couldn't read the emojis.
- The developer noticed several tofu blocks in the user interface, indicating that the system lacked the necessary character support for the foreign script.

## Examples

- I like to fry tofu until it is crispy.
- The chef marinated the tofu in ginger and soy sauce before adding it to the vegetable stir-fry.
- While traditionally a staple of East Asian cuisine, tofu has gained global popularity as a versatile ingredient capable of absorbing the complex flavours of various spices and sauces.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.