贝 (bèi) is Kangxi radical no. 154, “shell; money”. In this form it is written with 4 strokes.
Cowrie shells were early money, so 贝 (bèi) marks buying, selling, prices, goods and wealth.
The characters range from 4 to 17 strokes. 1 of them already appear in HSK 3.0 levels 1–2, and 1 has a full word page of its own.
Good ones to start with: 贵 (guì) expensive, 赛 (sài) to compete.
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