相传
xiāngchuán · HSK 7
according to legend
📜 相 (mutually) + 传 (pass on) = handed from one person to the next
相 marks a back-and-forth action between people; 传 is to pass or transmit. Together they describe a story handed down the chain of generations, hence according to legend or tradition has it that.
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).