: a soft food product prepared by treating soybean milk with coagulants (such as magnesium chloride or diluted acids) : bean curd
tofu is our most versatile form of nonanimal concentrated protein, as well as the least processed and the most traditional.Mark Bittman
The tofu … was sliced uniformly and stacked neatly in the bowl of clear, seafood-flavored broth.Karen Hayes
Vegetarian cooking has never been so simple. Supermarkets carry packaged convenience foods like tofu hot dogs …Norine Dworkin

Examples of tofu in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Restaurant owner Sachiyo Nakato Takahara places noodles, cabbage, onion and tofu into the sizzling, fragrant pot while explaining the significance of the meal, an intimate one typically enjoyed by close friends or family. Nila Roper, AJC.com, 6 Sep. 2026 Konnyaku, seaweed, mushrooms and tofu, all in one quick meal. Michiko Tomioka, CNBC, 5 Sep. 2026 Use it over seared tofu or chicken breasts, or buttered white rice with a drizzle of soy sauce. Shilpa Uskokovic, Bon Appetit Magazine, 4 Sep. 2026 Don’t forget the more than 75,000 packages of tofu recalled for possibly containing ink. Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 4 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for tofu

Word History

Etymology

Japanese tōfu

First Known Use

1771, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tofu was in 1771

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Cite this Entry

“Tofu.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tofu. Accessed 7 Sep. 2026.

Kids Definition

: a soft food product prepared by coagulating soybean milk

called also bean curd

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