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失传 (shī chuán) — (of skills, techniques, or traditions) to be lost; to die out

Definition

失传 (shī chuán) means a skill, craft, or tradition dies out because no one passes it on. Unlike 淘汰 (phased out as obsolete) or 绝 (vanish/extinct, often species), 失传 emphasizes a human transmission gap.

verb
(of skills, techniques, or traditions) to be lostto die out

Examples

  • 失传。
    Zhè zhǒng gǔ lǎo de niàng jiǔ fāng fǎ yǐ jīng shī chuán le.
    This ancient winemaking method has been lost.
  • 失传。
    Hěn duō chuán tǒng wǔ shù yǐ jīng kāi shǐ shī chuán.
    Many traditional martial arts have already started to die out.
  • ，失传。
    Rú guǒ bù bǎo hù, zhè xiē mín jiān yì shù jiù huì shī chuán.
    If we don't protect them, these folk arts will be lost.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

失shīlose
传chuántransmit

失 (lose) and 传 (transmit) together mean no longer handed down.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape is explained as a fallen person's footprint surrounded by drops of blood; another reading pairs 手 (hand) and 乙 to show something falling from a hand.

Open 失 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 傳; 传 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
專
專zhuān傳chuán
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 傳 puts 人 (man) beside 專, which gives the sound; the simplified 传 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 传 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Change & Process

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