The word 管家 is formed by combining two characters: 管, which means "to manage" or "to be in charge of", and 家, which means "household" or "home". When placed together, they create a conceptual unit that literally describes the function of "managing the household". This directly and logically denotes the person (a steward, butler, or housekeeper) who performs that primary duty, with the term emerging from the clear, action-and-domain relationship between its components.