charades

/ ʃəˈrɑːdz /

noun

1. functioning as singular a parlour game in which one team acts out each syllable of a word, the other team having to guess the word

Word History and Origins

Origin of charades¹

C18: from French charade entertainment, from Provençal charrado chat, from charra chatter, of imitative origin

Example Sentences

Hers was “a culture of silences, reticences, charades and circumlocutions.”

From The Daily Beast

Just a few episodes before we were laughing and playing Charades, and now I have to knock her out.

From The Daily Beast

“Suddenly Farrah and I are playing charades,” Letterman said at one point, half fond, half exasperated.

From The Daily Beast

Under the same head as private theatricals may come dramatized charades and proverbs, so much in fashion at the present time.

From Project Gutenberg

The children were old enough now to take part in a form of entertainment that gave him and them especial pleasure-acting charades.

From Project Gutenberg

Then followed the holidays, with parties and dances and charades, and little plays, with the Warner and Twichell children.

From Project Gutenberg

There were pantomimes and charades, in which Mark Twain and his daughters always had star parts.

From Project Gutenberg

The guests were talking of having a few tableaux and charades, like some they had seen arranged by their older sisters.

From Project Gutenberg