首创
shoǔ chuàng · HSK 7
to be the first to do sth
🥇 首 (head/first) + 创 (create) = first to create, an original creation
首 — hair 丷 over face 自 (eye + nose)
首 is a pictograph of a head, originally drawn with hair on top and a face below (containing the eye element 目). It meant 'head' literally, then extended to 'chief, leader, first' since the head is the topmost and foremost part of the body.
创 — 刀 knife radical 刂 + 仓 cang (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 刂 (knife) gives the meaning of cutting or wounding, while 仓 supplies the sound. The original sense was 'to wound' or 'gash made by a blade,' which extended to 'to begin' or 'create' — the idea of cutting something new into being.