抬价 (tái jià) — to raise prices, to jack up prices | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Means to deliberately push prices up, usually for profit — a stronger, more loaded word than 涨价, which simply means 'prices are going up' on their own. Often used for merchants, scalpers, or anyone gouging.

verb

to raise pricesto jack up prices

Examples

抬价。
Shāng jiā bù néng suí yì tái jià.
Businesses cannot arbitrarily raise prices.
。
Tā men chèn guò jié tái le yí cì jià.
They jacked up prices once during the holiday.
抬价。
Zhè zhǒng è yì tái jià de xíng wéi yīng gāi bèi zhì zhǐ.
This kind of malicious price-hiking should be stopped.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

抬 means lift and 价 means price; together they describe raising prices.

Characters in this word

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

扌台抬

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

台

台tái抬tái

Same sound today

In 抬, the 扌 part relates to the hand, and 台 gives the sound.

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

介jiè价jiè

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.

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