penultimate

WOTD – 29 November 2006    

English

Alternative forms

• pænultimate

Etymology

From Latin paenultimus, from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɪˈnʌltɪmət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

penultimate (not comparable)

1. (formal, literary or scholarly) Coming next-to-last in a sequence.
   • 1878, Samuel Butler, Life and Habit, ch. 10:

     But it should frequently happen that offspring should resemble its penultimate rather than its latest phase, and should thus be more like a grand-parent than a parent.

   • 1913, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, ch. 3:

     “Your clothes don't weigh more'n seven pounds. And seven from—hum—say one hundred an' twenty-three—one hundred an' sixteen is your stripped weight.”

     But at the penultimate word, Mary cried out with sharp reproof:

     “Why, Billy Roberts, people don't talk about such things.”

2. (linguistics) Of or pertaining to a penult.

Synonyms

• (next-to-last): next-to-last, second-to-last, second last

Coordinate terms

• (adjectives denoting syllables): ultimate (last), antepenultimate (last but two), preantepenultimate (last but three), propreantepenultimate (last but four)

Derived terms

• antepenultimate
• penultimately
• preantepenultimate

Related terms

• penult
• ultimate

Translations

the next-to-last in a sequence

• Albanian: parafundit (sq)
• Catalan: penúltim (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 尾二 (mei1 ji2)

  Mandarin: 倒數第二的 (cmn), 倒数第二的 (cmn) (dàoshǔ dì'èr de)

• Danish: næstsidst (da)
• Dutch: voorlaatste (nl)
• Estonian: eelviimane (et)
• Faroese: næstsíðstur (fo)
• Finnish: toiseksi viimeinen (fi)
• French: avant-dernier (fr), pénultième (fr)
• German: vorletzt (de)
• Greek: προτελευταίος (el) (proteleftaíos) m 
• Hungarian: utolsó előtti (hu)

• Icelandic: næstsíðastur (is)
• Indonesian: kedua terakhir (id)
• Italian: penultimo (it)
• Japanese: 最後から二番目 (ja) (saigo kara ni-banme)
• Latin: paenultimus (la)
• Macedonian: претпоследен (mk) (pretpósleden) m
• Polish: przedostatni (pl)
• Portuguese: penúltimo (pt)
• Romanian: penultim (ro)
• Russian: предпоследний (ru) (predposlédnij) 
• Serbo-Croatian: prȅtposljednjī (sh), prȅtposlednjī (sh), пре̏тпосљедњӣ (sh), пре̏тпоследњӣ (sh)
• Spanish: penúltimo (es)
• Swedish: näst sist (sv)
• Welsh: gobennol (cy)

Noun

penultimate (plural penultimates)

1. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A next-to-last thing.
2. (linguistics) A next-to-last syllable in a linguistic unit.