In linguistics, the ultima is the last syllable of a word, the penult is the next-to-last syllable, and the antepenult is third-from-last syllable. In a word of three syllables, the names of the syllables are antepenult-penult-ultima.
Etymology
Ultima comes from Latin ultima (syllaba) "last (syllable)". Penult and antepenult are abbreviations for paenultima and antepaenultima. Penult has the prefix paene "almost", and antepenult has the prefix ante "before".
Classical languages
In Latin and Ancient Greek, only the three last syllables can be accented. In Latin, a word's stress is dependent on the weight or length of the penultimate syllable. In Ancient Greek, the place and the type of accent are dependent on the length of the vowel in the ultima.
See also
- Pitch accent
- Acute accent
- Circumflex
- Perispomenon, properispomenon
- Grave accent
- Rhyme
- Stress (linguistics)
- Syllable
References
- Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. par. 166, 167.
 | This article about the Ancient Greek language is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
 | This article related to the Latin language is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |