The phrase "众所周知" (zhòng suǒ zhōu zhī) is a classical Chinese idiomatic expression formed through a fixed four-character structure, where "众" means "the multitude" or "public", "所" is a particle used here to create a nominalizer ("that which"), "周" conveys "all-around" or "universal", and "知" means "to know"; together, they construct a passive meaning of "that which is known by the public" or "as is widely known", functioning as a complete adverbial clause in modern usage to introduce a universally accepted fact.