Standard Lemma guide

soba

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: sōʹbə
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsəʊbə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: sōʹbə
  • General-American: /ˈsoʊbə/
  • New-Zealand: sōʹbə
  • New-Zealand: /ˈsɐʉbɘ/
  • rhymes with (Received Pronunciation) -əʊbə
  • rhymes with (General American) -oʊbə
  • homophone: sober (non-rhotic)

1

noun

Meaning 1

A Japanese buckwheat noodle.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A traditional community leader in Angola.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 蕎麦 (soba).

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سُوبَا (sūbā) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Arabic: سُوبَا (sobā) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Chinese Cantonese: 蕎麥麵 /荞麦面 (kiu4 mak6 min6) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蕎麥麵條 /荞麦面条 (qiáomài miàntiáo) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蕎麥麵 /荞麦面 (qiáomàimiàn) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Finnish: soba — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • French: soba — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • German: Soba — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Japanese: 蕎麦 (soba) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Korean: 소바 (soba) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Persian: سوبا (sobâ) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Portuguese: soba — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Russian: со́ба (sóba) — Japanese buckwheat noodle
  • Spanish: soba — Japanese buckwheat noodle