The word "争先恐后" is formed by directly combining two parallel verb-phrase constructions: "争先" (strive to be first, with 争 meaning compete and 先 meaning first) and "恐后" (fear to be behind, with 恐 meaning fear and 后 meaning behind), resulting in a literal sense of "compete to be first and fear to be last", which conveys the meaning of eagerly rushing ahead.