Onyomi: テン, デン · Kunyomi: -づた.い, つた.う, つた.える, つた.わる, つだ.う, つて · Meanings: communicate, follow, go along, legend, report, tradition, transmit, walk along
Kanji for communicate, follow, go along, legend, report
Fast lookup with examples and clean stroke-order visualization.
Experience 伝 in 3D! View the complete 3D Kanji model to understand its shape and stroke depth from every angle. Click the button below to see 伝 in 3D and explore how each stroke forms this character.
Please support us by sharing!
伝 is made from 亻, meaning “person,” and 云, meaning “to say” or “to tell.” It shows one person saying something and passing it on to another. From this idea of people sharing words and information, 伝 came to mean to convey, transmit, or hand down.
A person tells something to another person. Passing information along is 伝.
Think of a person speaking and sending words forward. That act of conveying is 伝.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 伝 | でん | legend, tradition | Noun |
| 伝 | つて | means of making contact, intermediary, go-between | Noun |
| 伝統 | でんとう | tradition, convention | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 伝記 | でんき | biography, life story | common JLPT-N2 Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |
| 伝説 | でんせつ | legend, folklore, tradition | common JLPT-N1 Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |
| 伝える | つたえる | to convey, to report, to transmit, to communicate, to tell, to impart, to propagate, to teach, to bequeath | common JLPT-N4 Ichidan verb, Transitive verb |
| 移す | うつす | to transfer (to a different place, group, etc.), to change, to swap, to substitute | common JLPT-N3 Godan verb with 'su' ending, Transitive verb |
| 伝わる | つたわる | to spread (of a rumour, news, etc.), to travel, to circulate, to go around, to be passed around, to become known | common JLPT-N2 Godan verb with 'ru' ending, Intransitive verb |
| 伝染 | でんせん | contagion, infection | common JLPT-N2 Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 伝達 | でんたつ | transmission (e.g. news, chemical signals, electricity), communication, delivery, conveyance, transfer, relay, propagation, conduction | common JLPT-N1 Noun, Suru verb, Transitive verb |