penult
/ˈpiˌnʌlt/noun
penult is spelled P-E-N-U-L-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 85 million words in written English, the 293,966th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, penult means “The next-to-last syllable of a word” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of penult is penults.
How many letters and syllables are in penult?
| Letters | 6: P-E-N-U-L-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 85 million words; the 293,966th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is penult?
Penult appears about once in every 85 million words in written English, the 293,966th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce penult?
- UK /pɪˈnʌlt/
- UK /pɛˈnʌlt/
- US /ˈpiˌnʌlt/
Penult has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Yangolin-penult.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of penult
- penults plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does penult mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The next-to-last syllable of a word.
- 2
The next to the last in a series.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Penult in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense next-to-last syllable of a word:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Vorendsilbe, vorletzte Silbe, Pänultima |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does penult come from?
Clipping of penultimate (“next to last”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).