penult

American  

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

Also penultima

noun

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

---

penult British  

/ pɪˈnʌlt, pɪˈnʌltɪmə, ˈpɛnʌlt /

noun

1. the last syllable but one in a word

---

Etymology

Origin of penult

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

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

Names accented on the penult have no accents printed on them; all others have printed accents.

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

Footnote: The Indian names are usually pronounced exactly as spelled, with each syllable distinctly sounded, and the principal accent on the penult, as in Ah-wah´-nee, or the antepenult, as in Yo-sem´-i-te.

From Indians of the Yosemite Valley and Vicinity Their History, Customs and Traditions by Clark, Galen

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