Penultimate

How to spell penultimate

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce penultimate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does penultimate mean?

1. adjectiveLast but one in a series or sequence; second to last.

Penultimate in a sentence

• The penultimate chapter sets up the final confrontation in the story.

• She scored the winning goal in the penultimate minute of the match.

Where does penultimate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin paenultimus, meaning 'almost last', a compact pairing of paene, which meant 'almost' or 'nearly', and ultimus, meaning 'last' or 'final'. Roman grammarians used it as a technical term for the syllable next to the last in a word, the paenultima, and that scholarly usage carried the term into English in the early 1600s. The 'ultimus' element is the same root that gives English 'ultimate' and 'ultimatum', so penultimate literally sits one step short of the ultimate. The spelling trap is the quiet 'pen-' opening, which has nothing to do with a writing pen and everything to do with the Latin 'paene', and the single 'n' before the 'ult'. Knowing it means 'almost last' rather than 'second' helps fix both the sense and the spelling in memory.

How the word is built

• pen- (from paene: almost)
• ultim (from ultimus: last)
• -ate (adjective suffix)