Character Di

It means to hand over or pass along step by step. Say dì, with a falling fourth tone. The words around it decide the sense: 递给 hands something to someone, 递交 submits a document, and 递增 means to increase in ordered steps.

There is no inventor. The traditional form 遞 is recorded early and explained as to alternate or take turns. That idea of one thing following another links the handoff and the progress senses, and old messenger-relay vocabulary. In the Song-era, 递 named a government delivery institution.