The word 房东 is formed by combining two concepts: 房 (fáng), meaning "house" or "room", and 东 (dōng), which literally means "east". Here, 东 does not refer to the direction, but draws from the traditional cultural notion where the host or master of a household was historically associated with the eastern position in ceremonial seating arrangements. Thus, 东 figuratively came to mean "host" or "owner". By putting these together, 房东 directly translates the idea of "house-owner" or "host of the house", yielding the modern meaning of "landlord".