工价 (gōng jià) — labor cost; cost of labor

Definition

noun

labor costcost of labor

工价。
Zhè ge xiàng mù de gōng jià tài gāo le.
The labor cost of this project is too high.
工价。
Gōng sī bì xū kòng zhì gōng jià cái néng yíng lì.
The company must control labor costs in order to be profitable.
工价。
Jīn nián de gōng jià bǐ qù nián shàng zhǎng le bǎi fēn zhī shí.
This year's labor cost has risen by ten percent compared to last year.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

工 gives the idea of labor, and 价 gives price; together they mean the cost of labor.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 工 is a picture of a bladed tool used to plow ground or mark a border; some read it as a carpenter's square.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

人介价

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

介

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

价 pairs 人 (person) with 介, which gives the sound.