遗传
yíchuán · HSK 4
heredity
🧬 遗 = leave behind + 传 = transmit; bequeath across generations
遗 means to leave behind or bequeath (think 遗产 inheritance); 传 means to transmit or pass down (as in 传统 tradition). Together they describe genetic transmission — what one generation leaves behind for the next to carry forward.
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).