to purchase; to buy
购 (gòu) · 8 strokes
Phonosemantic compound. 贝 represents the meaning and 勾 represents the sound. Simplified form of 購.
买 (mǎi) · 6 strokes
Pictograph of money (貝) coming out of a netted bag (网). The simplified character 买 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 買.