penultimate

Etymology

The OED takes it as formed from English pene- + ultimate, after Latin paenultimus (“next to last”);^[2][3] the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Hoad derive it from the Latin adjective on the pattern of ultimate.^[4][5][6] Barnhart and Etymonline instead see it as formed from the earlier penultima, the last syllable but one, on the model of proximate.^[7][8] The Latin word is formed from paene (“almost”) and ultimus (“last”).^{[9][5][4][10]} An earlier penultim, next to the last, came from Old French penultime and is recorded from 1436.^[11][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, the last day but one of a month: 1529, in a letter of Bishop S. Gardiner, a rare and now obsolete use.^[2] The adjective, last but one in a series, is first recorded in 1677, in R. Plot's Natural History of Oxford-shire.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The idea was expressed in English before the modern form: Middle English penultim was used of the last day but one of a month, as in "the penultim day of Septembre" (1436),^[11] and the Latin feminine paenultima was used in English as an adjective from 1416 and as a noun for the last syllable but one from 1589, in Puttenham.^[2] The shortened penult appeared in the 1530s.^[8][2] Merriam-Webster dates penultimate itself to the 15th century.^[3] From 1728, in Chambers's Cyclopædia, it was used in grammar and prosody of the last syllable but one,^[2] and later it acquired technical uses in mathematics (1872) and in card play, for the lowest card but one of a suit (1876).^[2] Johnson (1773) defined it simply as "last but one".^[12]

Timeline

• 1436 – penultim, next to the last, of a day of the month.^[11]
• 1529 – noun, the last day but one of a month (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1677 – adjective, last but one in a series.^[2][7] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s.^[8]
• 1728 – grammar and prosody: the last syllable but one of a word or foot.^[2]
• 1872 – mathematics: of a member of a family of curves close to a degenerate form.^[2]
• 1876 – cards: the lowest card but one of a suit.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Last but one; next to the last: The penultimate stage of the race climbs through the mountains.^[13][3][2]
2. (grammar) Of or relating to the last syllable but one of a word; falling on that syllable: a penultimate stress.^[3][2][4]

Noun

1. The last but one of a series, especially a penult.^[13][4][2]
2. (cards) The lowest card but one of a suit.^[2]

Word family

• penultimately
• antepenultimate
• preantepenultimate

Related words

• penult
• ultimate
• antepenult
• proximate

Usage notes

Wiktionary notes that while the Latinate penultimate prevails in writing, the traditional English expressions were last but one and, less often, second last, and that since the 1920s American English has preferred next to last, so that last but one now works as a Britishism.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins