[Japanese variant] original glyph included「person」with「dripping from orifices, something of value, essential, necessary」over a「fleshpot, wealth」(價). Top element simply has been extended down to fill the gap created after「fleshpot」was omitted from the Chinese version. Literally meaning [a]「person buying and selling」a TRADER or a MERCHANT holding something of VALUE being offered for a PRICE. A「person necessary」for most everyone except hermits is someone who trades, a TRADER, and trading necessarily involves bartering for VALUE after determining the MERITS of an item or service. PRICE and COST are heads and tails of the same coin, so to speak. Right element of「sticky fluid dripping from an orifice」may give a clue as to what was formerly being traded for a price, namely「dewy spread legs dripping sticky fluid, fleshpot.」Females commonly were bought, sold, and traded as sex objects…still are today, too. A「person」who「trades goods and services.」More likely, someone who「trades in buying and selling people」as slaves or offering them as short-term rentals. And the COST of all that fun being a dose of clap in addition to a loss of wallet coin, as「persons arrayed with rods down in poultice netting」now paying the real price.
　「Viewing women as commodities [see 品] was also made customary from Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) forward, both in the suddenly expanded labor market and within relationships. Men could sell their female kin to slavery or prostitution, and frequently did.」
　　[　https://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/0910/hersheys/hersheys5.html 2011-04-05　]　
　「Bound feet…[the] process was started before the arch of the foot had a chance to develop fully, usually between the ages of 2 and 5. …Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet.」
　　[　https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding 2012-12-17　]　
　「In traditional Chinese medicine, there has never been a mental disease called pedophilia (or an equivalent term), or homosexuality, or most of the other so-called sexual variations for that matter. …Children are usually described as natural sexual beings and erotic stimulation and sex-play are seen as beneficial to their healthy development.」
　　[　https://docx2.com/wp-content/uploads/Are-Any-of-the-Pharaphilias-in-DSM-Mental-Disorders_.pdf 2023-05-14　]　

Modern definitions (that generally disregard history) …excluding politically incorrect concepts and other meanings deemed offensive today; may list only pigeonholed definitions, euphemisms, or meaningless mnemonics)
Chinese: Japanese variant of 價|价
Japanese: price, cost, value, worth, merit, count, number, variable, to be worth, to deserve, to merit
Unihan extended: price, value
EDRDG: value; price