传统
chuántǒng · HSK 4
tradition
📜 传 = pass on + 统 = thread/system → passed-on system = tradition
传 means to pass on or transmit; 统 means a connecting thread or unified system. Together they form the idea of customs and knowledge handed down through generations — a legacy threaded across time.
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).