noun
- the next-to-last syllable of a word
Usage: linguistics
Examples
- In the word ‘computer,’ the penult is ‘put.’
- The stress falls on the penult in many Spanish words.
- Students learning phonetics must identify the penult in multisyllabic words.
- The penult of ‘banana’ is the syllable ‘na.’
- In poetry, the penult often carries important rhythmic weight.
- The teacher asked us to mark the penult in each vocabulary word.