Meaning & readings

transmit, go along, walk along, follow, report, communicate, legend, tradition

On’yomi デン、テン
Kun’yomi つた.わる、つた.える、つた.う、つだ.う、-づた.い、つて
Nanori つたえ

Origin

This character combines a person marker on the left with a sound component on the right. The left side (亻) is a shortened form of the character for person, used here to show this word relates to human action. The right side (云) is a sound hint that tells you roughly how to pronounce the character—it does not contribute to the meaning. The overall idea of "transmit" or "communicate" comes from the concept of a person passing something along, relaying information or objects from one place or person to another, which is a natural human activity that fits with the person marker.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

6 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 遺伝 いでん heredity; (genetic) inheritance
  • 駅伝 えきでん long-distance relay race
  • 自伝 じでん autobiography
  • 宣伝 せんでん publicity; advertisement
  • 伝う つたう to move along; to go alongside
  • 伝記 でんき biography; life story
  • 伝承 でんしょう handing down (information); legend
  • 伝説 でんせつ legend; folklore

Reference

Strokes
6
Kangxi radical
9
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#416 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+04F1D