microwave

English

Etymology

micro- +‎ wave

Pronunciation

• enPR: mī'krə-wāv", IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹəˌweɪv/
• enPR: mī'krō-wāv", IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹəʊˌweɪv/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

microwave (plural microwaves)

1. An electromagnetic wave with wavelength between that of infrared light and radio waves.
   • 1964 August, “The NER's microwave radio-telephone begins work”, in Modern Railways, page 129:

     Microwaves do not follow the curvature of the earth, but travel in a straight line. They must therefore have unobstructed "line of sight" and the dish aerials have to be sited on towers or high buildings, on high ground, or a combination of all three.

   Synonym: SHF

   Coordinate terms: longwave, mediumwave, shortwave, UHF

   Hypernyms: radio wave, wave

   Hyponyms: K band, Ka band, Ku band, X band

   Holonym: radio band

2. Ellipsis of microwave oven..

   Just put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it's ready to eat.

Derived terms

• microwaveless
• microwavelike
• microwave safe

Related terms

• convection microwave
• microwave spectroscopy
• microwaveguide
• radio frequency

Translations

electromagnetic wave

• Afrikaans: mikrogolf
• Albanian: mikrovalë f
• Arabic: مَوْجَة الْمَيْكْرُووِيف‎ f (mawjat al-maykruwīv), مَوْجَة دَقِيقَة‎ f (mawja daqīqa), مَوْجَة مَيْكْرُوِيَّة‎ f (mawja maykruwiyya), مَوْجَة صِغْرِيَّة‎ f (mawja ṣiḡriyya)
• Armenian: միկրոալիք (mikroalikʿ)
• Azerbaijani: mikrodalga
• Basque: mikrouhin
• Belarusian: мікрахва́ля f (mikraxválja)
• Bengali: অণুতরঙ্গ (bn) (oṇutoroṅgo), মাইক্রোওয়েভ (maikrōōẏebh)
• Bulgarian: микровълна́ (bg) f (mikrovǎlná)
• Burmese: မိုက်ခရိုဝေ့ (muikhka.ruiwe.)
• Catalan: microona f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微波 (zh) (wēibō)

• Cornish: korrdon f
• Czech: mikrovlna (cs) f
• Danish: mikrobølge c
• Dutch: microgolf (nl) m
• Esperanto: mikroondo
• Estonian: mikrolaine
• Finnish: mikroaalto (fi)
• French: micro-onde (fr) f
• Georgian: მიკროტალღა (miḳroṭalɣa)
• German: Mikrowelle (de) f
• Greek: μικροκύμα n (mikrokýma)
• Hebrew: מִיקְרוֹגַל‎ (he) m (mikrogál)
• Hindi: माइक्रोवेव (māikrovev), सूक्ष्मतरंग (sūkṣmatraṅg)
• Hungarian: mikrohullám (hu)
• Icelandic: örbylgja f
• Ido: mikro-ondi
• Indonesian: gelombang mikro (id)
• Irish: micreathonn f
• Italian: microonda (it) f
• Japanese: マイクロ波 (マイクロは, maikuroha), マイクロウェーブ (maikuroweebu)
• Kazakh: микротолқын (mikrotolqyn)
• Khmer: រលកខ្លីហួសកំរិត (rɔlɔɔk khləy huəh kɑmrɨt)
• Korean: 마이크로파 (maikeuropa)
• Kyrgyz: микротолкун (mikrotolkun)
• Lao: ຈຸນລະຄື້ນ (chun la khư̄n)
• Latvian: mikrovilnis m
• Lithuanian: mikrobanga f
• Macedonian: ми́кробран m (míkrobran)
• Malay: gelombang mikro, mikrogelombang
• Manx: meegra-honn f
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: бичил долгион (bičil dolgion)

• Norman: micro-onde f, micro-louême f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mikrobølge m or f

  Nynorsk: mikrobylgje f, mikrobølgje f

• Occitan: microonda f
• Persian: مایکروویو‎ (mâykrovêv), کهموج‎ (fa), ریزموج‎ (fa) (rizmowj)
• Polish: mikrofala f
• Portuguese: micro-onda f
• Romanian: microundă (ro) f
• Russian: микроволна́ (ru) f (mikrovolná)
• Scottish Gaelic: meanbh-thonn
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: микроталас m, микровал m

  Roman: mikrotalas m, mikroval m

• Slovak: mikrovlna f
• Slovene: mikroval m
• Spanish: microonda (es) f
• Sundanese: ᮌᮨᮜᮧᮙ᮪ᮘᮀ ᮙᮤᮊᮢᮧ (gelombang mikro)
• Swedish: mikrovåg (sv) c
• Tagalog: mikliboy
• Tajik: майкровейв (tg) (maykroveyv), микромавҷ (mikromavj)
• Tatar: микродулкын (mikrodulkın)
• Thai: ไมโครเวฟ (th) (mai-kroo-wéep)
• Turkish: mikrodalga (tr)
• Turkmen: mikrotolkun
• Ukrainian: мікрохви́ля f (mikroxvýlja)
• Uyghur: مىكرو دولقۇن‎ (mikro dolqun)
• Uzbek: mikrodalga (uz)
• Vietnamese: vi ba (vi) (微波), vi sóng (微㳥)
• Welsh: microdon (cy) f

microwave oven — see microwave oven

Verb

microwave (third-person singular simple present microwaves, present participle microwaving, simple past and past participle microwaved)

1. (transitive) To cook (something) in a microwave oven.

   Synonyms: (colloquial) nuke, microcook

   • 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian‎^[1]:

     A vengeful mother-of-three has been jailed for 168 days after being convicted of killing a neighbour's kitten by microwaving the 10-week-old pet.

2. (transitive, slang) To provide minimal preparation for implementation, deeming full or extensive preparation as unnecessary.

Derived terms

• microwavable, microwaveable

Translations

cook in a microwave oven

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 咪 (mai¹), 叮 (yue) (ding¹), 叮熱／叮热 (ding¹ jit⁶)

  Mandarin: 微波加熱／微波加热 (wēibō jiārè)

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: valmistaa mikrossa
• French: micro-onder (fr)
• German: no equivalent term in German, but see in der Mikrowelle aufwärmen
• Japanese: チンする (chinsuru)
• Norman: micro-louêmer
• Russian: гото́вить в микроволно́вой печи́ impf (gotóvitʹ v mikrovolnóvoj pečí)
• Swedish: mikra (sv), värma (sv)
• Thai: เวฟ (wêef)
• Welsh: coginio mewn microdon