soybean

Etymology

It is formed from English soy + bean.^[2][3][4][5] In its first record, a translation of Thunberg's travels (1795), it follows Swedish sojaböna, recorded from 1764;^[2] the OED compares Dutch sojaboon, recorded in 1779 in the diminutive sojaboontje.^[2] Soy came into English from soja, from Japanese 醤油 (shōyu, “soy sauce”) in a regional form,^[3][6][7] itself of Chinese origin, from words for fermented beans or bean paste and for oil.^[3][7][8] The OED notes that the Japanese word means only the sauce, and that soy and soya first meant the sauce in English as well, so soybean was used for the plant and its seed before soy was.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The seed of the soy plant, Glycine max: 1795, in C. R. Hopson's translation of C. P. Thunberg's Travels.^[2] Etymonline, Barnhart and Dictionary.com also date the word to 1795,^[3][6][5] Merriam-Webster only to 1802.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was coined for the bean after the sauce made from it, which had been known in English as soy since 1696.^[2][6] Hendrickson notes that the Chinese apparently named the bean after the sauce, so that English inherited the same order.^[9] The attributive use, especially in soybean oil, is recorded from 1935.^[10]

Timeline

• 1795 – the seed of Glycine max.^[2][3][6]
• 1935 – attributive, especially soybean oil.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An annual leguminous plant of East Asia, Glycine max, grown widely for its seeds, which yield food, oil and animal feed, and for forage.^[7][4]
2. The seed of this plant, rich in protein: They roasted soybeans for a snack.^[7][2]

Word family

• soybean oil

Related words

• soy
• soya
• shoyu
• bean

Usage notes

The plant is also called soya or soja,^[4] and soya bean is another form of the word.^[11] A joke posted online claims that soybean is Spanish for "I am bean", from soy, "I am".^[12]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "‘Soybean’ is a Spanish word which roughly translates as ‘I am bean’", 1 July 2020