造价
zào jià · HSK 7
construction cost
🏗️💰 造 build + 价 price = the build-price, i.e. construction cost
造 (zào) means to build or manufacture; 价 (jià) means price or value. Together they name the price of building something — the construction cost. The 亻person radical in 价 marks it as a money-and-value word.
造 — 辶 (walk) + 告 (tell/announce)
造 combines the walking radical 辶 with 告 (announce), which also gives the sound. Originally it meant 'to go and report to,' then 'to reach' or 'arrive at.' Over time the meaning shifted to 'to make' or 'to build,' the sense most common today.
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.