Several parts combine into one character.

値 is a phonetic-semantic compound: 亻 (person) + 直 (zhí, "straight / upright" — providing the sound). The composite reads as "what a person directly faces / encounters head-on" = value, worth, price. The etymological insight is philosophically interesting: value is conceived not as an inherent property of objects but as what a person stands face-to-face with — value emerges in the encounter. Mainland simplified slightly to 值.

Korean reading "chi." 價値 (gachi, value — the standard formal term, used widely in philosophy, economics, and ethics: 가치관 gachigwan = "value system / worldview"), 近似値 (geunsachi, approximate value — math), 數値 (suchi, numerical value — used in statistics and engineering). Korean everyday "price / value" of an item leans on the native (gap), with 値 reserved for technical and abstract registers.

Mandarin zhí, 2nd tone (simplified 值). 值 (zhí, worth / value), 价值 (jiàzhí, value — abstract, philosophical), 数值 (shùzhí, numerical value), and especially 值得 (zhíde, "worth doing / worth it") — top-frequency expression in spoken Mandarin: 值得一看 (zhíde yī kàn, "worth seeing"), 不值得 (bù zhíde, "not worth it"). 值班 (zhíbān, to be on duty / on shift) is a separate semantic extension to "shift / duty."

Japanese on-reading チ (chi) — 価値 (kachi, value — abstract), 近似値 (kinjichi, approximation), 数値 (sūchi, numerical value — used in scientific and engineering contexts). Two kun-readings split formal-vs-everyday: あたい (atai, "value / worth" — literary register: 一見の値する eikken no atai suru "worth a look"); ね (ne, "price") — 値段 (nedan, "price-step" = price tag / price — the standard everyday Japanese word for price), 値上げ (neage, "price increase / price hike"), 値下げ (nesage, "price decrease / discount"). Japanese shopping vocabulary leans heavily on the kun-reading ne.

Memory aid: a person (亻) facing something straight on (直) — what one directly encounters and weighs = value.