microwave (oven)

[noun]

[de mag -ne-tron, de mag -ne-trons]

If you think that “magnetron” is the Dutch translation of the name of a character from the X-men or Transformers series, you’re wrong… 🙂

The Netherlands are probably the only country in the world where the microwave oven is called by its main internal component that produces the microwave radiation: the cavity magnetron… Even in Belgium, the Dutch “magnetron” is called “microgolfoven” (i.e. the literal translation of microwave oven).

Sometimes you will see the word “combi-magnetron”, which means that the microwave also has an oven/grill function.

Examples:

– “Verwarm de saus drie minuten in de magnetron op 1000 Watt.”

(“Heat up the sauce for three minutes in the microwave at 1000 Watt.”)

– “Kunnen we die noedels van de afhaalchinees ook morgen nog in de magnetron stoppen?”

(“Can we put those noodles from the take-away Chinese in the microwave tomorrow?.”)

– “Frank heeft nooit zin om te koken en haalt altijd een magnetronmaaltijd van de supermarkt.”

(“Frank never feels like cooking and always gets a microwave dinner at the supermarket.”)

Related words:

– Opwarmen: to heat up [verb] [warmde op, opgewarmd].

– Vermogen: power [noun] [het vermogen, de vermogens].

Example:

– “Hoe lang moet deze maaltijd in de magnetron?” – “Vijf minuten op vol vermogen.”

(“How long does this dinner have to go in the microwave?” – “Five minutes at full power.)

– Koken: to cook [verb] [kookte, gekookt].