parcel

English

Etymology

From Middle English parcel, from Old French parcelle (“a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle”), from Late Latin particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of partem (“part, piece”). Doublet of particle.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pärʹ-səl, IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹsəl/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰaː.səɫ]
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɑː.səɫ]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɑɹ.səɫ]

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)səl
• Hyphenation: par‧cel

Noun

parcel (plural parcels)

1. A package wrapped for shipment.

   Synonym: package

   I saw a brown paper parcel on my doorstep.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […] ”

2. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
3. An individual item appearing on an invoice or receipt (only in the phrase bill of parcels).
4. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.

   Synonym: plot

   I own a small parcel of land between the refinery and the fish cannery.

5. (obsolete) A group of birds.
6. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     […] this youthful parcel / Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,

   • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 79:

     […] instead of sitting (as she ought to have done) by her good father and mother, she must needs run up into the gallery, and sit with a parcel of giddy creatures of her own age […]

7. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
8. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.

   A certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.

   • 1731, John Arbuthnot, chapter 4, in An essay concerning the nature of aliments‎^[1], London: J. Tonson, page 85:

     The same Experiments succeed on two Parcels of the White of an Egg […]

   • 1881, John Addington Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy, Volume 5, Part I, New York: Henry Holt, Chapter 1, p. 2,^[2]

     The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government, sought divers foreign alliances.

   • 1982 April 3, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower”, in Gay Community News, page 15:

     I don't think we are sitting pretty / So far away from our fair city / But I love you more than any parcel of earth.

Derived terms

• air parcel
• bill of parcels
• parcel bomb
• parcel gilt
• parcellate
• parcellation
• parcel locker
• parcel out
• parcel-poet
• parcel post
• parcel shelf
• parcel tape
• parcel together
• parcel up
• part and parcel
• pass the parcel

Related terms

• part
• particle
• particular
• particulate

Translations

package wrapped for shipment

• Albanian: pako (sq) f
• Arabic: رِزْمَة f (rizma), رُزْمَة f (ruzma), طَرْد (ar) m (ṭard)
• Armenian: ծանրոց (hy) (canrocʻ), փաթեթ (hy) (pʻatʻetʻ)
• Azerbaijani: bağlama (az), banderol, paket
• Basque: pakete
• Belarusian: пасы́лка f (pasýlka)
• Bengali: মোড়ক (bn) (mōṛok)
• Bulgarian: коле́т (bg) m (kolét), паке́т (bg) m (pakét)
• Burmese: ပါဆယ် (my) (pahcai), အထုပ် (my) (a.htup)
• Catalan: paquet (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 包裹 (zh) (bāoguǒ), 郵包 / 邮包 (zh) (yóubāo)

• Czech: balík (cs) m
• Danish: pakke (da) c
• Dutch: pakket (nl) n
• Esperanto: pakaĵo
• Estonian: pakk (et)
• Finnish: paketti (fi)
• French: colis (fr) m, paquet (fr) m
• Georgian: ამანათი (amanati)
• German: Paket (de) n
• Greek: δέμα (el) n (déma)
• Hebrew: חֲבִילָה (he) f (khavilá)
• Hindi: पार्सल (hi) m (pārsal)
• Hungarian: csomag (hu)
• Icelandic: pakki (is) m
• Indonesian: parsel
• Italian: pacchetto (it) m, plico (it) m
• Japanese: 小包み (ja) (こづつみ, kozutsumi), 荷物 (ja) (にもつ, nimotsu), (rare) 包み (ja) (つつみ, tsutsumi)
• Kazakh: сәлем-сауқат (sälem-sauqat), сәлемдеме (sälemdeme), пакет (paket)
• Khmer: កញ្ចប់ (km) (kɑñcɑp)
• Korean: 소포(小包) (ko) (sopo), 꾸러미 (kkureomi)
• Kyrgyz: посылка (posılka), пакет (ky) (paket)
• Lao: ພັດສະດຸ (phat sa du)
• Latin: fascis m
• Latvian: paka f
• Lithuanian: paketas (lt) m
• Macedonian: пакет (mk) m (paket), колет m (kolet)
• Maori: mōkī
• Mongolian: боодол (mn) (boodol)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pakke (no) m or f

• Persian: بسته (fa) (baste)
• Plautdietsch: Pak n
• Polish: paczka (pl) f, przesyłka (pl) f
• Portuguese: pacote (pt) m, encomenda (pt)
• Romanian: pachet (ro) n, colet (ro) n
• Russian: посы́лка (ru) f (posýlka), паке́т (ru) m (pakét), бандеро́ль (ru) f (bandɛrólʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀шӣљка f

  Roman: pòšīljka (sh) f

• Slovak: balík m
• Slovene: pošiljka f, paket m
• Spanish: paquete (es) m, encomienda (es) f
• Swedish: paket (sv) n
• Tajik: бандерол (banderol), пакет (tg) (paket)
• Thai: ห่อของ (hɔ̀ɔ-kɔ̌ɔng), ห่อพัสดุ (hɔ̀ɔ-pát-sà-dù), พัสดุ (th) (pát-sà-dù)
• Turkish: koli (tr)
• Turkmen: paket
• Ukrainian: поси́лка f (posýlka)
• Urdu: پارسل m (pārsal)
• Uzbek: posilka (uz), paket (uz)
• Vietnamese: gói (vi), bưu kiện (vi)

division of land bought and sold as a unit

• Catalan: parcel·la (ca) f
• Czech: parcela (cs) f
• Dutch: perceel (nl)
• Finnish: tontti (fi)
• French: parcelle (fr) f
• Galician: parcela (gl) f
• German: Parzelle (de) f
• Hungarian: parcella (hu)
• Indonesian: petak (id)
• Italian: lotto (it), parcella (it) f
• Japanese: 地割 (ちわり, chiwari)
• Korean: 구획(區劃) (ko) (guhoek)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: parsell m

  Nynorsk: parsell m

• Polish: parcela (pl) f
• Portuguese: lote (pt) m, terreno (pt) m
• Romanian: parcelă (ro) f, lot (ro) n
• Russian: уча́сток (ru) m (učástok)
• Spanish: parcela (es) f
• Tagalog: parsela
• Turkish: kesir (tr)

indiscriminate number, collection, group

• Spanish: hatajo (es) m

See also

• lot
• allotment

Verb

parcel (third-person singular simple present parcels, present participle parceling or parcelling, simple past and past participle parceled or parcelled)

1. To wrap something up into the form of a package.
2. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.

   Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.

3. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; often with off, out or into.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Their woes are parcell’d, mine are general.

   • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 12:

     Thoſe ghoſtly Kings would parcel out my pow’r, / And all the fatneſs of my Land devour;

   • 1806, [Thomas Maurice], Indian Antiquities: Or, Dissertations Relative to the Antient Geographical Divisions, […] of Hindostan: […] , volume I. Containing the Dissertation on the Antient Geographical Divisions of Hindostan, London: Printed […] by C. & W. Galabin […] and sold by John White […] , pages 231–232:

     Hindostan was then parcelled out into twelve grand divisions, called soobahs, to each of which a viceroy was assigned, by the title of Soobahdar, corruptly written Soobah by European writers; for, soobah signifies province: many of these soobahs were in extent equal to large European kingdoms.

   • 1864, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, etc.‎^[3], London: Edward Moxon, pages 94–95:

     Then the great Hall was wholly broken down, / And the broad woodland parcell’d into farms;

4. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     […] that mine own servant should / Parcel the sum of my disgraces by / Addition of his envy!

Translations

to wrap into a package

• Bulgarian: пакетирам (bg) (paketiram)
• Catalan: embalar (ca), empaquetar (ca)
• Finnish: paketoida (fi)
• French: empaqueter (fr), emballer (fr), envelopper (fr)
• Italian: impacchettare (it)
• Malagasy: mamono (mg)
• Portuguese: empacotar (pt)
• Spanish: embalar (es)

to wrap a strip around the end of a rope

to divide and distribute by portions

• Spanish: parcelar (es)

Adverb

parcel (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet […]

   • 1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 120:

     […] as the worthy dame was parcel blind and more than parcel deaf, knowledge was excluded by two principal entrances […]

   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 59:

     here was one [a hut] that, summer-blanch’d, / Was parcel-bearded with the traveller’s-joy / In Autumn, parcel ivy-clad;

Further reading

• “parcel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “parcel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Placer, carpel, craple, placer

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpart͡sɛl]

Noun

parcel

1. genitive plural of parcela

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French parcelle (“parcel”), from Late Latin particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of partem (“part”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pʰɑˈsɛlˀ]

Noun

parcel c (singular definite parcellen, plural indefinite parceller)

1. parcel, lot (subdivided piece of land registred independently in official records)
2. (informal) detached house

   Synonym: parcelhus

Declension

Declension of parcel

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	parcel	parcellen	parceller	parcellerne
genitive	parcels	parcellens	parcellers	parcellernes

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /paʁˈsɛw/ [pahˈsɛʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /paʁˈsɛw/ [pahˈsɛʊ̯]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /paɾˈsɛw/ [paɾˈsɛʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /paʁˈsɛw/ [paχˈsɛʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /paɻˈsɛw/ [paɻˈsɛʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐɾˈsɛl/ [pɐɾˈsɛɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐɾˈsɛl/ [pɐɾˈsɛɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐɾˈsɛ.li/

• Hyphenation: par‧cel

Noun

parcel m (plural parcéis)

1. a shoal, a sandbank

   Synonyms: vau, vado, baixo, baixio, esparcel, restinga, sirte