The word "东西" (dōngxi), meaning "thing", originated from a conceptual association in ancient China, where major marketplaces were traditionally organized with stalls for specific goods arranged along the east-west and north-south thoroughfares. Over time, "east and west" (东西) came to serve as a shorthand metonym, representing the comprehensive array of items one could acquire by going from the eastern to the western ends of a market. This evolved from literally meaning the directions to abstractly signifying the totality of goods available from all directions, eventually solidifying into a single term denoting any tangible or abstract object.