Etymology

preantepenultimate

pre·ant·e·pen·ul·tim·ate

Today it means: Synonym of preantepenult (“the last syllable but three of a word or other utterance; the fourth-to-last syllable”). Full definition →

First used mid 18th c.English antepenultimate ← Latin paenultimus ← Proto-Italic *oltm̥mos
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
  4. Proto-Italic*prai
  5. Proto-Italic*prai-
  6. Latinprae-
  7. Middle Englishpre-
  8. Englishpre-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ent-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énts
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₂énti
  12. Proto-Italic*anti
  13. Latinante
  14. Classical Latinante-
  15. Englishante-
  16. Latinpaene
  17. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  18. Proto-Italic*oltm̥mos
  19. Latinultimus
  20. Latinpaenultimus
  21. Englishpenultimate
  22. Englishantepenultimate
  23. English todaypreantepenultimate

From pre- (prefix meaning ‘physically in front of, before’) + antepenultimate (“(adjective) two before the last in a series; (noun) the second before the last in a series; (phonetics) syllable that comes two before the last in a word”).

First known use, by meaning

  • from mid 18th c. Synonym of preantepenult (“the last syllable but three of a word or other utterance; the fourth-to-last syllable”).
  • from late 18th c. Three before the end; fourth to last.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.