转载 means 'to reprint' or 'to republish'—typically referring to the act of copying and sharing someone else's written or digital content (e.g., articles, posts, images) with permission or attribution. The character 转 (zhuǎn) conveys 'to transfer' or 'to shift', while 载 (zǎi) means 'to carry' or 'to record'—together suggesting the transfer of recorded information from one source to another. It is commonly used in online contexts, journalism, academic citation, and social media.

This verb is formal yet widely used in everyday digital life—for instance, when reposting a WeChat article or quoting a blog post on a forum. Unlike informal terms like 转发 (zhuǎn fā), which emphasizes forwarding within platforms (e.g., WeChat Moments), 转载 implies a more deliberate, often public or published reuse, sometimes requiring consent. It carries neutral-to-formal register and appears frequently in copyright notices, editorial guidelines, and digital etiquette discussions.