出头
chū toú · HSK 7
to get out of a predicament
🐣 出 (exit) + 头 (head) = stick your head out to escape trouble
A chick breaking through its shell is all head-first effort. 出头 literally means 'head comes out' — escaping a tight spot by pushing forward, or the little bit left over that pokes past a round number.
出 — foot 止 emerging from enclosure 凵
出 is a pictograph showing a foot or plant stepping out of a hollow or enclosure, depicting the act of going forth. The original sense of 'coming out' or 'emerging' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It now broadly means 'to exit, go out, or produce.'
头 — 页 (head/page) + 豆 (bean, phonetic)
The traditional form 頭 combines 頁 (xié), meaning 'head', with 豆 (dòu) as the phonetic component. 頁 itself originally depicted a person with an emphasized head. The simplified form 头 is a modern shorthand that replaces 豆+頁 with a simpler shape while keeping the same meaning of 'head' or 'top'.