so most of the combined kanji use onyomi readings for both, at least so far in my wanikani journey, but i noticed 仕方 seems to use the onyomi for one and kunyomi for the other. why is that, and how rare is this mixing of readings and is there a nice way to tell when you combine the different readings or is it one of those you just learn it as you go…basically why is 仕方 しかた and not しほう?
仕 is just one of those that’s almost always gonna use the on’yomi, even when connected to another kanji that uses the kun’yomi. A couple other common words using it are 仕事 and 仕草.
As for 方 being かた in this case… I don’t know if 仕方 is actually related to the verb する or if it’s just coincidence, but 方 following a verb stem will always be read かた, and the structure means “way of [verb]ing.” 仕方 effectively means “way of doing,” so thinking of it as し方 may help.
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Not to pile on more while you’re already confused, but it gets worse: 方 is one of those fun kanji that can exist on its own in either on’yomi or kun’yomi form - when it’s read as ほう, it means “direction”, as in 北の方 = northwards, whereas when it’s read as かた it’s a more formal word for 人, as in 日本の方 = a Japanese person. The only way to tell those apart is from context and experience.
Wiktionary says it is derived from する+方, though why it’s spelt with 仕 it doesn’t clarify.
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This is something that lot of automated reading software will get wrong too. So there’s really no shame in tripping over it either. Somehow the success rate for something like Bouyomi-chan to get 方 right as its own word feels like it’s far under 50%.
It’s a bit like knowing when は is “wa” or “ha” in sentence with a lot of kana. It takes time and experience to really get it at a glance.
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So 仕掛ける is likely する + 掛ける as well, then
My guess is it’s ateji
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Ah, of course…
Wiktionary even says as much. Missed that bit.
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Lazy bastards probably just didn’t want to write 為.
… and, frankly, I’m glad they didn’t; to heck with all those hooks and bends.
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Definitely not rare. The rule of thumb is taught because it’s right more often than not, but there are a bunch of common words with mixed readings, like 具合 (on + kun) or 手配 (kun + on).
As an aside, on+kun words are referred to as 重箱読み and kun+on words are referred to as 湯桶読み, because those are words (重箱 and 湯桶) with those structures.
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