经传

經傳
jīngzhuàn
noun #31,222

Meanings

  1. 1 the classics and their commentaries (esp. Confucian)
  2. 2 canonical works

Examples

HSK 6
Tā shú dú jīngzhuàn, xuéwen shēnhòu.
He has read the classics and commentaries thoroughly; his learning is profound.
HSK 7-9
Zhè wèi xuézhě bìngfēi míngbújiànjīngzhuàn.
This scholar is by no means an unknown.

Tips

history
经 (jīng) = the canonical classics themselves (《诗》 《书》 《易》 《礼》 《春秋》). 传 (zhuàn, NOT chuán here) = the authoritative commentaries that accompany them, for example 《左传》, 《公羊传》, and 《谷梁传》 attached to the Spring and Autumn Annals 《春秋》. 经传 together names the entire scholarly canon.
mistakes
Read 传 as zhuàn ('commentary; biography'), not chuán ('to transmit'). The set phrase 名不见经传 ('name unrecorded in the classics' = an unknown) is where most learners first meet this word.

Stroke Order

经 jīng
传 chuán