How to Say "Soy" in Chinese - How To Say Guide

大豆

dàdòu

The Chinese word for soy is 大豆 (dàdòu).

Meaning: soy beans (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

The term 大豆 literally means 'large bean'.

While 大豆 is the formal or botanical term, 黄豆 (huángdòu) is a very common alternative used specifically to refer to the yellow variety of soybean.

dàdòu

The character 豆 (dòu) used in 大豆 was originally an ancient pictograph representing a specific type of ritual food vessel used in bronze ceremonies, rather than the bean itself.
While 大豆 refers to the plant, the ubiquitous 'soy sauce' is called 酱油 (jiàngyóu), using the word for 'oil' (油) instead of 'bean'.
In traditional Chinese medicine, soy products are often categorized by their 'cooling' or 'heating' properties regardless of the botanical term 大豆.

这道菜需要一些大酱。(Zhè dào cài xūyào yīxiē dà jiàng.)
This dish requires some fermented bean paste.
请给我一瓶酱油。(Qǐng gěi wǒ yī píng jiàng yóu.)
Please give me a bottle of soy sauce.
这道菜需要加一些黄豆酱汁。(Zhè dào cài xūyào jiā yīxiē huáng dòu jiàng zhī.)
This dish needs some sauce made from soybeans added to it.
这种大豆的品质很好。
Zhè zhǒng dàdòu de pǐnzhì hěn hǎo.
The quality of this soybean is very good.
农民正在收割大豆。
Nóngmín zhèngzài shōugē dàdòu.
The farmers are harvesting soybeans.
我们需要买一些大豆。
Wǒmen xūyào mǎi yīxiē dàdòu.
We need to buy some soybeans.

Two friends are shopping for groceries at a market.

浩然 Haoran

梓涵，你想买大豆吗？
Zǐhán, nǐ xiǎng mǎi dàdòu ma?
Zihan, do you want to buy soybeans?
梓涵 Zihan

好啊，我也想买一些。
Hǎo a, wǒ yě xiǎng mǎi yīxiē.
Sure, I want to buy some too.
浩然 Haoran

这里的优质大豆很便宜。
Zhèlǐ de yōuzhì dàdòu hěn piányí.
The high-quality soybeans here are very cheap.
梓涵 Zihan

那我们就买两袋吧。
Nà wǒmen jiù mǎi liǎng dài ba.
Then let's just buy two bags.

Sources

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