"I received three parcels today, each wrapped with brown paper and tape."
"The courier left the parcels at the door because no one was home."
"We tracked the parcels online and they should arrive by afternoon."
"She stacked the parcels on the table and labeled them by recipient."
Parcels comes from the Middle English parcellen, meaning ‘to parcel’ or ‘to divide into parts’ from Old French parceller, which derives from parc or parcage meaning ‘a portion, share.’ The form embraced the sense of a ‘portion wrapped for distribution.’ By the 16th century, parcel intended a bundle or wrapped package; by the 18th–19th centuries, it was standard for packages sent by mail or courier. The word evolved to denote multiple such bundles (parcels) rather than a single parcel, paralleling pluralization patterns in English for count nouns. The spelling stabilized as parcels in the modern era, with pronunciation still hinting at the silent or softened medial r in some dialects and the clear /z/ plural ending. First attestations appear in legal and commercial records describing shipments and parcels of land, moving into freight and mail catalogs in the 1700s and 1800s. The term remains ubiquitous in logistics, e-commerce, and everyday conversation about delivered goods.
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Words that rhyme with "Parcels"
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Parcels is pronounced with two syllables, primary stress on the first: /ˈpɑr.səlz/ in US and /ˈpɑː.səlz/ in UK/AU. Start with a broad open front vowel for 'par-' (like 'part' without the 't'), then a clear schwa for the second syllable, and finish with a voiced z-sound. Mouth positions: lips relaxed, back of tongue raised slightly for /ɑ/; the /r/ is typically rhotic in US, non-rhotic in some UK varieties in casual speech; the final /z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative.
Common errors: 1) Slurring the second syllable to a quick '-lz' or '-ls' without the schwa, leading to /ˈpɑrˌlz/. 2) Dropping the final /z/ as a voiceless /s/ in rushed speech. 3) Misplacing /r/ in non-rhotic accents where /r/ is not pronounced unless before a vowel. Correction: sustain a short, unstressed schwa in the second syllable and clearly voice the final /z/. Use careful tongue tip placement to voice /z/ at the alveolar ridge.
In US English, /ˈpɑr.səlz/ with rhotic /r/ and a pronounced /ˈpɑr/. In UK and many Australian speech, /ˈpɑː.səlz/ often with non-rhoticity where /r/ can be silent unless before a vowel, and a longer /ɑː/ in the first syllable. The second syllable uses a reduced /ə/ (schwa). Final /z/ is voiced in all accents, but some rapid UK speech may assimilate to a trailing hiss of a voiceless /s/ in certain dialect pockets.
Key challenges include the /ɒ/ vs /ɑː/ vowel in the first syllable and the transition into the unstressed, mid-central /ə/ in the second syllable. The cluster at the juncture of /r/ or silence before /s/ in non-rhotic dialects can blur the boundary and the final /z/ requires steady voicing to avoid a de-fused or whispered ending in fast speech.
Parcels often prompts people to mispronounce as 'par-sells' or 'par-seals' due to spelling. The correct form keeps the /z/ ending and an audible /əl/ in the second syllable, so it sounds like PAR-səlz with the schwa in the middle. Emphasize the length of the first syllable and maintain a voiced endpoint.
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