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I was reading a web novel when I came across this sentence.

春を思わせる花柄のワンピースに黄色のカーデガン、編み込みをしアップにした髪にベレー帽、赤色の伊達メガネ……

What does the をし mean? Is it just connecting 編み込み and アップ to にした? It is my first time I believe encountering this and while I still understand the sentence I want clarification.

I looked online and all I could find was をし being a old way to write 惜しい and 愛しい which I am near certain is not how it is being used here, because that would be quite bizarre and doesn't really make sense.

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The only possible interpretation for me is that し is the stem of the ます-form of the verb する.

I think the author meant both 編み込みをした (braided) and アップにした (put up) to modify 髪. It basically means the same as

編み込みをして（、）アップにした髪

I guess the author wanted to avoid repeating 〜して and 〜した because it would sound a bit like the two actions, 編み込みにする and アップにする, happened sequentially in time.

I would say the sentence is still poorly formed, though.

編み込んでアップにした髪

would have been much easier to understand. Here, the verb 編み込む is used in its て-form, instead of 編み込みをする, where 編み込み is a noun and the object of the verb する.

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  • Thanks for the reply. I understand what he meant, but yes it seems really poorly written. Your example is much better I think. Do you think it is just a typo? Because from all the reading I have done and googling of this I couldn't find another example which leads me to believe that this is just ungrammatical even if we completely understand what is being transmitted. Thanks.
    – Jared
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 13:24
  • @Jared: I don’t think it’s a typo. The ます-stem (e.g. し for する) is often used in written Japanese, instead of the て-form (e.g. して), to connect verb setences. So, 編み込みをし（、）アップにした髪 is not completely wrong. It’s just poorly written.
    – aguijonazo
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 13:56
  • Ok after doing some googling of し and して this sentence starts to make more sentence from a grammatical side. Without a comma it feels a little wrong, but also is there a need for を at all. Can it not just be written as 編み込みし、アップにした髪?
    – Jared
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 14:45
  • @Jared: Yes, を could be omitted. 編み込みする doesn’t particularly sound better than 編み込みをする to me, though.
    – aguijonazo
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 15:47
  • I think for me し vs をし sounds better due to hearing it more often but I guess either way it is fine. Thanks so much for the help on this, this was very informative for me.
    – Jared
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 16:24
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It's the masu-stem of する. So, 編み込みをし means that they put their hair up in braids. The masu-stem is used where in English we would say "they did this and they did that and..."

So 編み込みをしアップにした髪にベレー帽 means "[put on] a baret on her hair that was put up and done in braids." (I'm assuming somewhere in that sentence--or else implied--is a verb meaning to put on.)

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  • Thanks for the reply. Can you use し with を like that though? I figured for these scenarios you would just say をして～をした or maybe をすると (not sure if that last one is correct). I have not seen をし before (I believe) and couldn't find an example online so I am wondering if it just something that is ungrammatical and was a typo. Thanks.
    – Jared
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 13:28

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