Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

paenultima law

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: paenul-ti-ma law
IPA

20

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The rule of Classical Latin pronunciation which states that a word receives antepenultimate stress if its penult is a short or metrically light syllable, but receives penultimate stress if its penult is a long or metrically heavy syllable.

Example Sentences

"He calls attention to the large number of words found over and over again with a metrical accent which does not follow the ‘paenultima law’, but falls on the last syllable…or even on the fourth syllable from the end."

Etymology

First attested in 1892; Latin paenultima (“penult”) + English law.

Inflected Forms

penultima law (alternative)

Questions

What does paenultima law mean?: The rule of Classical Latin pronunciation which states that a word receives antepenultimate stress if its penult is a short or metrically light syllable, but receives penultimate stress if its penult is a long or metrically heavy syllable.
Where does paenultima law come from?: First attested in 1892; Latin paenultima (“penult”) + English law.

How to pronounce paenultima law

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