The word 传说 is formed through the direct and intuitive combination of two conceptual building blocks. The first character, 传 (chuán), carries the core idea of "to transmit" or "to pass on", like handing something down a line. The second, 说 (shuō), means "to speak" or "to narrate". When placed together, their meanings merge not grammatically but pictorially and notionally: they visually depict the act of "passing on spoken accounts". This creates a single, unified concept referring to stories, lore, or legends that are not fixed in official text but are defined by their journey, they are the spoken narratives transmitted through time and community.