Parcels

How to spell parcels

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce parcels

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does parcels mean?

1. nounItems wrapped or boxed for sending or carrying, especially through the post.
2. nounDefined portions or plots of land.
3. verbDivides something into portions and shares it out.

Parcels in a sentence

• noun

  The courier left three parcels on the doorstep.

• noun

  The estate was divided into smaller parcels for sale.

• verb

  The manager parcels out the workload among the team each week.

• noun

  She queued at the post office to collect two parcels.

• noun

  The survey mapped each of the farm parcels separately.

• verb

  The will parcels the inheritance between the three children.

Where does parcels come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin particula, a diminutive of pars meaning 'a part' or 'a share', so it literally meant 'a little part'. This passed into Old French as parcelle, used for a small portion or fragment, and English adopted it in the late 1300s, first in the sense of a small piece or portion of something larger. Over time the idea of a 'portion done up for sending' took hold, giving us the modern package wrapped for posting. The same pars root survives in everyday relatives such as 'particle', 'partial', and 'portion', which is a useful reminder that the middle of the word is spelled with -cel-, echoing particula, not -sel-. The verb sense, 'to parcel out', preserving the original idea of dividing into parts, developed in the sixteenth century.

How the word is built

• parcel (small part; package)
• -s (plural / third-person singular)