Package, Parcel, and What Arrives at Your Door
A package is something wrapped for sending, and a set of things offered together. British and American English lean on different words.
A package is a wrapped item for carrying or posting, and also a set of things offered together: a package holiday, a rescue package, a pay package. British English tends to say *parcel* for the physical item and keeps package for the bundled deal; American English uses package for both.
- A wrapped item for sending. *A package arrived.*
- A set of things offered together. *A software package.*
- To wrap or present. *Neatly packaged.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | package | A small package. |
| Plural | packages | Several packages. |
| Verb | package | Packaged for retail. |
| Noun | packaging | Excess packaging. |
| British | parcel | A parcel in the post. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The package was left with a neighbour.American; British would say parcel.
- They booked a package holiday.Flights, hotel and transfers together.
- The government announced a support package.A bundle of measures.
Package in different fields
- Package holiday — travel and accommodation sold as one
- Package deal — an offer that must be taken whole
- Software package — a program or suite
- Care package — a parcel of comforts, originally post-war aid
- Packaging — the materials, and the way something is presented
From *pack*, of Low German or Dutch origin, plus the noun ending *-age*. The bundled-offer sense is twentieth-century, and spread with mass tourism.
Package or parcel?
In Britain, a parcel goes in the post and a package is usually a bundle of things offered together. In America package covers both.
What is a package deal?
An offer where the parts cannot be separated: you accept all of it or none. The phrase is used of contracts, holidays and political agreements.