降伏
こうふく · koufuku · JLPT N3 · noun
surrender
🏳️ 降伏 = descend 降 + lie face-down 伏: bowing down to the winner
降 means to come down or give in (as in 降参, I give up), and 伏 means to lie prostrate. Careful: 幸福 (happiness) is also read koufuku. Same sound, opposite outcome, so check the kanji.
降 — 阜 (mound) 阝+ 夅 (descend, phonetic)
Originally depicted two feet (夅) walking down from a mound or hill (阜), showing the act of descending. The 阝on the left is the 'mound' radical, while 夅 carries both phonetic and semantic weight, suggesting downward movement. Pronounced jiàng for 'descend' and xiáng for 'surrender'.