What is the correct reading of 士?


What is the correct reading for the word 士 in the context of this phrase,
"有能の士". I found online that 士 can have both the 音読み reading of し and the 訓読み
reading of さむらい. However, as 士 is a word that is not usually used alone, I am
unable to discern as to which reading is the correct one.




**The quick answer is: ゆうのうのし.**

The long-winded answer as to how I checked and confirmed this personally is as
follows:

I used a monolingual kanji dictionary (Whatever you 'found online' was
apparently insufficient). This indicated that while the 音読み is シ as you are
aware, the 訓読み is shown as
[［外］さむらい](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/kanji/%E5%A3%AB/) or
[△さむらい](https://kanji.jitenon.jp/kanjib/522.html). The［外］or △ indicating that
this is a non-standard reading.

_Now that we know it is a non-standard reading, but we're still not 100%,
let's look for similar examples._

From typing "の士" into [ALC](https://eow.alc.co.jp/) and looking through the
results we get 博雅の士 同好の士 有能の士 独学の士 高潔の士. From [Weblio J/E
dictionary](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E5%A3%AB) we get 同好の士 from typing
in 士. Now we have 5 examples of this pattern and should expect this character
to be read the same in each. Now we want to see if any of these expressions
have sufficient reference online to reliably indicate the reading.

Search results on Google for "同好の士" 読み yield [this
page](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/keyword/%C6%B1%B9%A5%A4%CE%BB%CE) and searching in
Weblio we get
[this](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E5%90%8C%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%AE%E5%A3%AB),
both of which show a reading of どうこうのし.

It's easy to accidentally skew your results with a little confirmation bias,
so try to use your searches to minimize that possibility. For example, upon a
search for "どうこうのし" I discovered the hatena.ne.jp link found previously as
well as a few others. **Nothing, however, appeared for a search of
"どうこうのさむらい".**




**The quick answer is: ゆうのうのし.**

The long-winded answer as to how I checked and confirmed this personally is as
follows:

I used a monolingual kanji dictionary (Whatever you 'found online' was
apparently insufficient). This indicated that while the 音読み is シ as you are
aware, the 訓読み is shown as
[［外］さむらい](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/kanji/%E5%A3%AB/) or
[△さむらい](https://kanji.jitenon.jp/kanjib/522.html). The［外］or △ indicating that
this is a non-standard reading.

_Now that we know it is a non-standard reading, but we're still not 100%,
let's look for similar examples._

From typing "の士" into [ALC](https://eow.alc.co.jp/) and looking through the
results we get 博雅の士 同好の士 有能の士 独学の士 高潔の士. From [Weblio J/E
dictionary](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E5%A3%AB) we get 同好の士 from typing
in 士. Now we have 5 examples of this pattern and should expect this character
to be read the same in each. Now we want to see if any of these expressions
have sufficient reference online to reliably indicate the reading.

Search results on Google for "同好の士" 読み yield [this
page](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/keyword/%C6%B1%B9%A5%A4%CE%BB%CE) and searching in
Weblio we get
[this](https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E5%90%8C%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%AE%E5%A3%AB),
both of which show a reading of どうこうのし.

It's easy to accidentally skew your results with a little confirmation bias,
so try to use your searches to minimize that possibility. For example, upon a
search for "どうこうのし" I discovered the hatena.ne.jp link found previously as
well as a few others. **Nothing, however, appeared for a search of
"どうこうのさむらい".**

