Other forms: parcels
A parcel is a wrapped box sent through the post. Send a parcel, a parcel arrived, parcel delivery.
Parcel is the British word and package the American, though both are used everywhere. Parcel force, parcel locker and parcel tracking are the standard compounds. A parcel of land is a defined piece of it, which is the legal sense. Note part and parcel, meaning an inseparable component; and parcel out, meaning to divide something into shares.
1nounparcelA wrapped box sent through the post.
“The postman left a parcel with my neighbour while I was out.”
synonyms: package
2noundefinedA defined piece of land.
“The parcel of land was sold separately in 1974.”
parcel is a wrapped package or piece.
Also accepted in games: package
Old French parcelle means a small piece, from Latin particella, a little part — the same root as particle and part. A parcel is a small part before it is a wrapped box, which is why land comes in parcels.
Proto-Indo-European
*perh₃-
Latin
particella
Old French
parcelle — a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle
Middle English
parcel
English, today
parcel
Built from
From Middle English parcel, from Old French parcelle (“a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle”), from Latin particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”). a doublet of particle.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA