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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

parch.

To burn the surface of, to scorch.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/pɑɹt͡ʃ/General-American/pɑːtʃ/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To burn the surface of, to scorch.

    transitive
    The sun today could parch cement.
  2. To roast, as dry grain.

    transitive
  3. To dry to extremity; to shrivel with heat.

    transitive
    The patient’s mouth is parched from fever.
  4. To be very thirsty.

    colloquial · intransitive
    We're parched, hon. Could you send up an ale from the cooler?
  5. To boil something slowly (Still used in Lancashire in parched peas, a type of mushy peas).

    archaic · transitive
  6. To become superficially burnt; to become sunburned.

    intransitive
    The locals watched, amused, as the tourists parched in the sun, having neglected to apply sunscreen or bring water.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English parchen, paarchen (“to parch; dry; roast”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Middle English perchen (“to roast”).

noun/pɑɹt͡ʃ/General-American/pɑːtʃ/Received-Pronunciation
  1. The condition of being parched.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English parchen, paarchen (“to parch; dry; roast”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Middle English perchen (“to roast”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.