Word.ws English Dictionary

pass the parcel

pass the parcel noun: a children's game in which a parcel having many layers of packaging is passed from person to person around a ring while music plays, the person holding the parcel when the music is temporarily stopped being allowed to remove a single layer, and the person removing the innermost layer winning the prize contained within; in a variation of the game, there is a prize under each layer that is awarded to the person removing that layer.

Noun

pass the parcel (uncountable)

  1. A children's game in which a parcel having many layers of packaging is passed from person to person around a ring while music plays, the person holding the parcel when the music is temporarily stopped being allowed to remove a single layer, and the person removing the innermost layer winning the prize contained within; in a variation of the game, there is a prize under each layer that is awarded to the person removing that layer.
  2. (broadly) a situation in which the ownership of something changes frequently.

Questions about pass the parcel

What does pass the parcel mean?
Pass the parcel means a children's game in which a parcel having many layers of packaging is passed from person to person around a ring while music plays, the person holding the parcel when the music is temporarily stopped being allowed to remove a single layer, and the person removing the innermost layer winning the prize contained within; in a variation of the game, there is a prize under each layer that is awarded to the person removing that layer.
What part of speech is pass the parcel?
Pass the parcel is a noun.

Words near pass the parcel in the dictionary

  1. pass the book
  2. pass the bottle of smoke
  3. pass the buck
  4. pass the hat
  5. pass the mantle
  6. pass the parcel
  7. pass the phone
  8. pass the pikes
  9. pass the river
  10. pass the sponge across the slate
  11. pass the sponge over the slate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pass the parcel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pass the parcel.wav.

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