penult

American  

[pee-nuhlt, pi-nuhlt] / ˈpi nʌlt, pɪˈnʌlt /

Also penultima

noun

1. the next to the last syllable in a word.

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penult British  

/ pɪˈnʌlt, pɪˈnʌltɪmə, ˈpɛnʌlt /

noun

1. the last syllable but one in a word

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Etymology

Origin of penult

1530–40; < Latin paenultima ( syllaba ), contraction of paene ultima almost the last; pen-, ultima

Example Sentences

Occasionally, an Indian name came to his lips, hesitant syllables cascaded to a tenebrous penult: Rabindranath Tagore.

From Time Magazine Archive

Names on which accents are not placed are accented on the penult.

From Creation Myths of Primitive America In relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind by Curtin, Jeremiah

Properispomenon, prō-per-i-spōm′e-non, n. a word with the circumflex accent on the penult.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

This anie eare may if he accent the antepenult matrímonie, or the penult matrimónie, or the last as matrimoníe.

From Of the Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue A Treates, noe shorter than necessarie, for the Schooles by Wheatley, Henry Benjamin

Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to circumflex on the penult; &?; before + &?; to circumflex.

From The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary Section P and Q by Project Gutenberg