The word 关于 (guānyú) is formed through the classical Chinese method of combining two independent, meaningful characters to create a new, composite meaning. The character 关 (guān) originally conveyed notions of a barrier, a pass, or a connection, and here carries the abstract sense of "involvement" or "connection to". It is paired with 于 (yú), an ancient and versatile preposition meaning "at", "in", or "to", which in this compound specifically lends its sense of "regarding" or "in relation to". Thus, the formation is a conceptual fusion where 于 grammatically specifies and grounds the abstract relational quality of 关, resulting in the modern preposition meaning "concerning" or "about".