/rɪˈɡɑːrdɪŋ/
[preposition] Used to introduce a topic that you are talking or writing about; meaning 'on the subject of' or 'in connection with.' It is a formal way to say 'about' something.
A word that began as a physical act of watching someone now governs how we open every formal email.
The story of 'regarding' begins with the eyes. Its oldest ancestor is the Proto-Germanic word *wardaz, meaning a guard or watcher — someone who keeps a careful eye on things. This root gave rise to the Old High German *warten, meaning to watch or wait, and the Frankish *wardōn, which carried the idea of paying close attention to something in front of you.
When the Normans brought their language to England after 1066, they carried with them the Old French verb regarder, built from the prefix re- (meaning 'again' or 'back') and garder (meaning 'to guard' or 'to watch'). Together, regarder meant to look back at something, to fix your gaze upon it, to consider it carefully. The word garder itself descended from that same Proto-Germanic root *wardaz, making 'regard' a deeply visual word at its heart.
English absorbed regarder from Old French as the verb 'to regard' in the 14th and 15th centuries, and at first it was almost entirely physical: you regarded a person the way you might stare at a painting — with steady, attentive eyes. Writers of the period used it to mean literally 'to look at.' Over time, however, the meaning stretched inward, from the physical act of looking to the mental act of thinking about or valuing something. To regard someone became to hold them in your thoughts, not just in your sight.
The participial form 'regarding,' used as a preposition, developed as the language grew more formal and bureaucratic. By the time English business correspondence flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, 'regarding' had made the full journey from a pair of watchful eyes to a neat, formal label for any topic under discussion. 'Regarding your letter of the 5th...' — the gaze had become a category.
This transformation is one of language's quietest magic tricks: a word that once described a hawk-eyed guard watching over a fortress gate now sits politely at the top of office memos. It shares this visual ancestry with a surprisingly wide family — 'guard,' 'ward,' 'warden,' 'reward,' and even 'guardian' all carry that same ancestral idea of watchful attention. 'Reward' itself comes from Old French regarder, following the path Old French regarder → Anglo-Norman reward → Middle English reward, where the careful attention of a watcher became something given in return for loyal service.