precalentar
/pɾekalenˈtaɾ/
To preheat in Spanish is precalentar.
The verb precalentar means to heat something in preparation for further action. In colloquial speech, you might also hear the phrase poner el horno a calentar to mean "preheat the oven."
Meaning: to heat something in preparation for further action (verb)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is composed of the prefix pre-, which means "before" or "in advance", identical to the English prefix "pre-".
How does it change in a sentence?
The gerund form precalentando is used to express the continuous action of preheating. If you want to say "I preheated" in the first-person singular past tense, use precalenté.
How do you pronounce it?
/pɾekalenˈtaɾ/
Did you know?
- In some colloquial contexts, calentar can mean to provoke someone or to make them angry, meaning you would never use it to describe a person's mood as 'preheated'.
- The root of calentar comes from the Latin calere, which is also the ancestor of the English word 'cauldron', a vessel used for heating liquids.
- The root of precalentar, which comes from 'calentar', is a direct relative of the English word 'calories'. Both share a common ancestor related to the concept of heat.
Examples in context
- Para comenzar, precalentar el horno a 180 grados Celsius durante 10 minutos.To start, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.
- Antes de comenzar a preparar el pastel, pon el horno a calentar a 180 grados.Before starting to prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Precalienta el horno a 350 grados.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Debes precalentar el horno antes de hornear.You must preheat the oven before baking.
- Voy a precalentar la sartén para el pollo.I am going to preheat the pan for the chicken.
- Es necesario precalentar el horno a 180 grados.It is necessary to preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Example conversation
Javier and Lucía are preparing to cook dinner in their kitchen.
- JavierLucía, ¿puedes precalentar el horno?Lucía, can you preheat the oven?
- LucíaSí, ¿a qué temperatura lo pongo?Yes, at what temperature should I set it?
- JavierPonlo a doscientos grados, por favor.Set it to two hundred degrees, please.
- LucíaVale, ya lo estoy haciendo.Okay, I am doing it now.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “preheat” translations and entries precalentar, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries precalentar, CC BY-SA 4.0.
