领袖
lǐngxiù · HSK 6
leader
👔 领 = collar + 袖 = sleeve — the one whose collar and sleeves stand out leads
In old China, the person with the finest collar and sleeves was the highest-ranking. So 领袖 literally means collar-and-sleeves but refers to a leader or head figure.
领 — 令 (command, phonetic) + 页 (head)
A semantic-phonetic compound. 页 (head/page) gives the meaning, originally referring to the neck or collar — the part connecting the head to the body. 令 supplies the sound. From 'neck/collar' it extended to 'lead, guide, receive,' since the neck leads the body.