传
chuán · HSK 3
pass
📜 亻(person) + 专 (specialized) — a person passing on specialized knowledge
传 combines the person radical 亻 with 专 (zhuān, specialized/concentrated). The sense: a person transmits or hands down expertise. Same character in 传统 (tradition) and 传说 (legend) — things passed from one generation to the next.
传 — person radical 亻 + 专 (zhuān)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning 'to pass on' between people, while 専/专 supplied the sound. Early uses referred to relay stations and messengers carrying word from place to place, which broadened to today's senses of transmitting, spreading, and handing down (as in tradition or biography).