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penultimo

penultimate

adjective peh-NOOL-tee-moh Rare

Origin: From Latin 'paenultimus' — 'paene' (almost) + 'ultimus' (last).

Also means

second to last

Usage Note

Penultimo is used both in everyday speech (la penultima stazione — the second-to-last stop) and in linguistics to describe the stressed syllable in words with penultimate stress — a concept learners encounter frequently in Italian pronunciation guides. Agreement: penultima (f), penultimi (m pl), penultime (f pl).

Examples

"Scendi alla penultima fermata."

Natural Translation

Get off at the second-to-last stop.

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