价

Étymologie et composants

The Chinese character 价 (jià) for "price" is composed of two parts: 贝 (bèi) and 加 (jiā). 贝 originally meant "cowry shell", which was used as a form of currency in ancient China. 加 means "to add" or "to increase". Together, 价 literally means "to add cowry shells", which represents the concept of increasing the value of something. Over time, the meaning of 价 evolved to refer to the monetary value of goods and services, hence its current meaning of "price".