What Animals Form a Parcel?
A deer and a finch, wrapped up in the same old word that gives you a package.
Which Animals Form a Parcel?
Two very different animals carry “parcel” as a listed collective noun: hinds, meaning female deer, and linnets, a small seed-eating finch. There’s no shared behavior or habitat linking them — a mammal and a bird ended up sharing this word simply because both appear in the same tradition of old English collective-noun lists, where “parcel” was used loosely for a portioned-off group of just about anything.
Where Does “Parcel” Come From?
“Parcel” traces back to Latin pars (genitive partis), “a part, a piece,” by way of Vulgar Latin particella and Old French parcele. It entered English in the late 14th century meaning “a portion or part of something” — the phrase “parcel of land” is recorded from around 1400. The familiar “wrapped package” sense didn’t arrive until centuries later, by the 1640s. When it was applied to animals, “parcel” carried its older “a portioned-off group” meaning, not the package sense most people know it for today.
Parcel vs. a Parcel (a Package)
Unlike “bike” and “bicycle,” which are unrelated words that happen to share a spelling, “a parcel of hinds” and “a parcel you get in the mail” are the same word doing the same basic job, just at different points in its history. Both senses come from the idea of a portioned-off piece of something larger: land divided into parcels, goods wrapped into a parcel, or a group of animals treated as one countable “parcel” of the larger population. The animal-group sense is actually the older one — it existed before “parcel” ever meant a package you’d mail.
Animal-by-Animal Breakdown
Hinds: Documented as forming a parcel in collective-noun references, though in everyday use, deer of either sex are far more commonly called simply a herd. “Parcel” survives mainly as the traditional, list-book term rather than something you’d hear from a field biologist.
Linnets: Also documented as forming a parcel — one of the better-attested entries in older bird collective-noun lists. In ordinary birdwatching language, though, a group of linnets would just as likely be called a flock.
🧠 Test Your Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.1. What is a “hind”?
2. What kind of animal is a linnet?
3. What did “parcel” originally mean in English, before “package”?
Frequently Asked Questions
What animals form a parcel?
Hinds (female deer) and linnets (a small finch) are both documented with “parcel” as a collective noun, though the general terms herd and flock are more commonly used for each in everyday speech.
What is a hind?
A hind is a female deer, most often used specifically for female red deer.
What is a linnet?
A linnet is a small, seed-eating finch native to Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia.
Where does “parcel” come from?
From Latin “pars/particula,” meaning “a small part,” via Old French “parcele.” It entered English in the late 1300s meaning a portion of something, well before it came to mean a wrapped package.
Is “parcel” the everyday term for either animal?
Not usually. “Herd” is the standard general word for deer, and “flock” for linnets. “Parcel” survives mainly in collective-noun reference lists rather than everyday use.