首
くび · kubi · JLPT N4 · noun
neck
🦒 kubi sounds like could be: a giraffe could be all neck
首 originally meant head, and in Japanese it came to name the part that holds the head up: the neck. The same kanji still means head or chief in compounds like 首相 (prime minister), read shu. Getting fired is 首になる, literally becoming a neck.
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.