身价
shēn jià · HSK 7
social status
💰 身价 = body (身) + price (价) = the price tag on a person, their worth or status
身 means body or self, 价 means price or value. Together: literally the price of one's body, used for a person's net worth or social standing, like an athlete's market value.
身 — pictograph of a pregnant body
身 is a pictograph originally depicting a person with a swollen belly, representing a pregnant woman in profile. Over time the meaning broadened from 'pregnancy' or 'torso' to refer to the body in general, and by extension oneself or one's person.
价 — person radical 亻 + 介 (jiè)
价 is the simplified form of 價. The traditional form combines 亻 (person) with 賈 (merchant), pointing to the act of pricing goods. In the simplified version, 賈 was replaced by the phonetic 介, which hints at the 'jià' reading while keeping the 'person' radical for the trading sense.