高价
gāo jià · HSK 4
high price
💰 高 (high) + 价 (price) = high price
高 means tall or high, and 价 means price or value. Together they literally read as high-price — used for expensive items, premium goods, or steep costs.
高 — pictograph of a tall building/tower
高 is a pictograph of a tall structure, likely a watchtower or multi-story gate, with a roof on top, an upper chamber, and a base below. From this concrete image of height it extended to the general meanings 'tall,' 'high,' and figuratively 'lofty' or 'noble.'
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.