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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

傳

/ʈ͡ʂʰu̯än³⁵/
to transfer; to deliver; to transmit; to pass on
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • TOCFL 4
  • radical 人
  • 13 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *tons, *don, *dons): semantic 人 (“man”) + phonetic 專 (OC *tjon).

Related to 轉 (OC *tonʔ, *tons, “to turn around; to transfer”); see there for more.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
  • soundChinese專 “to monopolize; to take sole possession”
    • soundChinese叀 “spindle; spinning wheel”
    • meaningChinese又 “again; once more”

Meanings

character
  1. to transfer; to deliver; to transmit; to pass on
  2. to teach; to impart
  3. to pass down; to hand down
  4. to abdicate; to resign sovereign authority
  5. to express; to convey
  6. to summon; to call

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

傳：遽也。从人專聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 由一方交給另一方，或由上代交給下代。 例：傳球、傳承、流傳
  2. 教授。 例：傳道、師傳、傳藝
  3. 輾轉散布。 例：傳染、傳播、宣傳
  4. 接導。 例：傳電、傳熱
  5. 下令叫、喚。 例：立即傳他進來。
  6. 表達、表現。 例：傳神、眉目傳情

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 傳 was written 字形演變

  1. 傳 in Oracle bone script
    Oracle bone
    甲骨文
    Shang, c. 1250–1050 BCE
  2. 傳 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  3. 傳 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  4. 傳 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  5. 傳 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  6. 傳 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 傳