The word 昂贵 is formed by combining two characters that both independently relate to high value or elevated status. The first character, 昂 (áng), carries connotations of something being high, elevated, or rising, often in a figurative sense related to spirit or price. The second character, 贵 (guì), directly means "expensive" or "highly valued". Together, they create a compound where 昂 intensifies and reinforces the core meaning of 贵, resulting in a single term that conveys a strong sense of being "extremely costly" or "exorbitantly expensive".