soy
/sɔɪ/noun, adjective, verb
soy is spelled S-O-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “soy vs soya” about 390 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, soy means “A common East Asian liquid sauce, made by subjecting boiled beans to long fermentation and then long digestion in salt and water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of soy is soys.
How many letters and syllables are in soy?
| Letters | 3: S-O-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.3 times per million words; the 12,397th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is soy?
Soy appears 4.3 times per million words in written English, the 12,397th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce soy?
- /sɔɪ/
Soy has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-soy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with soy
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: soya.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of soy
- soys plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- soya
- more soy comparative
- soyer comparative
- most soy superlative
- soyest superlative
- soying participle, present
- soyed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does soy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A common East Asian liquid sauce, made by subjecting boiled beans to long fermentation and then long digestion in salt and water.
I like a little soy with my rice.
- 2
Soybeans, or the protein derived from them.
These candles are made from soy.
- 3
ScotlandarchaicSilk.
adjective
- 1
derogatoryCharacteristic of a soy boy; weak, unmasculine, etc.
This whole drama is the soyest thing I've ever seen.
verb
- 1
derogatorySynonym of soy out (“to act in the manner of a soy boy”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Soy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense soy beans – see also soybean:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does soy come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).