Mashhur may simply mean “well known” in ordinary language, but it also serves as a technical category in hadith methodology. Not every famous or multiply transmitted report is mutawatir.
«وَمَا تَخَلَّفَتْ إِفَادَةُ الْعِلْمِ عَنْهُ كَانَ مَشْهُورًا فَقَطْ»
When the production of knowledge is absent, it remains merely well known.
Case 1: A very popular assertion may ultimately depend on one unverified source; repetition does not constitute tawatur.
Case 2: A report has several independent chains but still lacks certainty; further conditions are needed. The narrower technical category of mashhur will be developed with the divisions of ahad.