传播 (chuán bō) is a verb meaning 'to spread' or 'to disseminate', especially information, ideas, culture, or diseases. It combines two characters: 传 (chuán), meaning 'to transmit' or 'to pass on', and 播 (bō), meaning 'to sow' or 'to broadcast'—together evoking the image of sowing seeds of information widely, like broadcasting seeds across a field. The word emphasizes intentional or systematic transmission rather than accidental or passive diffusion.

This term appears frequently in formal and media contexts—such as news reporting, public health campaigns, education, and digital communication. It’s commonly used with objects like information (信息), culture (文化), knowledge (知识), rumors (谣言), or viruses (病毒). While it can describe both positive dissemination (e.g., scientific knowledge) and negative spread (e.g., misinformation or disease), the connotation depends entirely on context—not the word itself.