Charades (UK: /ʃəˈrɑːdz/, US: /ʃəˈreɪdz/)[1] is a parlor or party word guessing game. Originally, the game was a dramatic form of literary charades: a single person would act out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, followed by the whole phrase together, while the rest of the group guessed. A variant was to have teams who acted scenes out together while the others guessed. Today, it is common to require the actors to mime their hints without using any spoken words, which requires some conventional gestures. Puns and visual puns were and remain common.
- ^ "charade, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.