The word 首都 (shǒudū, meaning "capital city") is formed by combining two characters: 首, which pictographically represents a "head" with hair and eyes, conveying the idea of "first" or "leadership", and 都, a character associated with a "large settlement" or "metropolis". Together, they create the conceptual metaphor of the "head city", visually and notionally representing the primary city from which a country is governed, much as the head directs the body.