埋伏
mái fú · HSK 7
to ambush
🌳🗡️ 埋 bury + 伏 crouch hidden = troops buried-and-crouching in wait = ambush
埋 means to bury and 伏 means to lie prone or crouch low. Combined, soldiers stay buried out of sight and crouched down, ready to spring on a passing enemy. The mái fú sound also rides on 埋 (mái, bury) plus 伏 (fú, lie low).
埋 — earth 土 + village 里 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 土 (earth) gives the meaning of burying in soil, while 里 supplies the sound. The original sense was to cover or hide something underground, later extended to figurative meanings like 'bury oneself in work' or to conceal.