尊贵
zūn guì · HSK 7
honorable
👑 尊 = honor/respect + 贵 = precious/noble, so 尊贵 = held in honored, precious regard
尊 carries the sense of revere (as in 尊敬, to respect) and 贵 means precious or costly (as in 昂贵, expensive). Together they mark someone or something treated as both respected and valuable: honorable, distinguished.
贵 — shell 贝 (money) + 中 (middle/basket)
贵 originally depicted hands holding a basket of cowrie shells (贝), which served as ancient Chinese currency. The shell radical 贝 signals connection to wealth and value. Over time it came to mean 'expensive,' 'valuable,' and by extension 'noble' or 'honored.'