传奇
chuánqí · HSK 7
romance
📜 transmit + extraordinary — a tale so remarkable it gets passed on
传 means transmit or pass down; 奇 means extraordinary. Legends are stories so remarkable they spread from person to person across generations.
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).