What is the meaning of "What’s the meaning of the highlighted word, please? “Superstitions sometimes contain truths HANDED DOWN from the past.”"? - Question about English (US) (2024)

Which word? "HANDED" or "DOWN"?

To hand = to pick something up and give it to someone
Down = to or at a lower level

But in this case, "to hand down" is a phrasal verb:

To hand down = to pick something up and pass it along to "a lower level"; in other words, if you hand something down, you pass it along to people who are younger than you.

So, if the superstition was HANDED DOWN from the past, this means that it was passed along from older generations to younger generations.

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Which word? "HANDED" or "DOWN"?

To hand = to pick something up and give it to someone
Down = to or at a lower level

But in this case, "to hand down" is a phrasal verb:

To hand down = to pick something up and pass it along to "a lower level"; in other words, if you hand something down, you pass it along to people who are younger than you.

So, if the superstition was HANDED DOWN from the past, this means that it was passed along from older generations to younger generations.

• English (US)

@RB_AC it basically means given from generation to generation or from person to person- in this case it’s probably generation to generation.
Like if you’ve a superstition you can hand it down to your children who can later on hand it down to their children

• Portuguese (Brazil)

@rayman07 @bellashh_ Thank you very much. 👏🏼☺️