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于 is a grammar word meaning roughly 'at, in, to, from, than' — it links a verb to a place, time, target or standard. Learners meet it mostly inside fixed two-syllable words like 关于 (about), 由于 (because of), 终于 (finally) and 等于 (equal to), rather than on its own. In traditional writing the preposition is normally written 於, while 于 survives as a classical variant and as a common surname.
Mandarinyú · ㄩˊ
Cantonesejyu1 · yū
The preposition (traditional 於) is jyu1 / yū in Cantonese. The surname 于 and 于 in classical texts and personal names is usually read jyu4 / yùh. Mandarin is yú in all these cases.
prepositionat, in, on (place or time): 生于1990年 'born in 1990'
prepositionto, toward, for (the target or recipient of an action): 有利于健康 'beneficial to health'
prepositionfrom, by (source or agent, chiefly in written style): 出于好意 'out of good intentions'
prepositionthan (after an adjective, in comparisons): 大于 'greater than'
bound morphemesecond element of many set compounds: 关于, 由于, 至于, 终于, 等于, 属于
proper nounYú, a Chinese surname (written 于 in both simplified and traditional)
Other pronunciations
wū · wu1 Only for traditional 於 in the archaic exclamation 於戲 (= 嗚呼) 'alas'; never written 于 in this sense.
yū · jyu1 A rare surname written 於 in traditional (kept distinct from the much commoner surname 于 Yú).
How it is built
borrowed
Radical 二. two.
一meaning Top horizontal; the character is conventionally filed under the 二 'two' radical because of its two horizontal strokes.
亅meaning The final stroke is a vertical with an upward hook — the detail that separates 于 from 干.
Origin
The oracle-bone and bronze forms of 于 show two horizontal lines crossed by a hooked vertical, but what the picture represents is genuinely disputed. Proposals include a wind instrument (the reed pipe later written 竽), a sign for breath or exhalation passing through something, and a tool; none is established. What is clear is that the grammatical use as 'at, in, to' is a phonetic loan — the sign was borrowed for a common function word regardless of its original meaning. Its phonetic value survives in 宇, 盂, 竽, 迂 and 吁. The traditional preposition 於 has a separate history: it began as a variant of the graph for 烏 'crow' and was likewise borrowed for the same function word, after which the two characters were used in overlapping ways until simplification merged them into 于.
Remembering it
Think of 干 (dry/do) with a hook added at the bottom: the hook is a little arrow pointing where the action lands — 于 points you 'to, at, in'. The hook is the whole difference, so write it clearly.
In mainland simplified writing 于 covers everything; in traditional writing the preposition is normally 於 (關於, 由於, 終於, 於是), while 于 is kept for the surname, for place and personal names, and for quoting classical texts. Do not 'simplify' the surname 于 to anything else, and do not convert it to 於 when writing traditional. 于 as a standalone preposition is bookish — in everyday speech you say 在 for place (他在北京) rather than 于. Comparative 大于/小于 belongs to maths and formal writing, not conversation. In Cantonese the compounds are read with jyu1 (gwaan1 jyu1, zung1 jyu1).
Context
于 is a well-known surname — the Ming general 于謙 and the modern cross-talk performer 于謙 share it. The phrase 青出于蓝 (qīng chū yú lán, 'blue comes from the indigo plant', i.e. the student surpasses the teacher) and 千里之行，始于足下 ('a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step') are among the most quoted sayings containing it.
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