last but one

[Romel Panzer]

What is the other word for "last but one". It is on the tip of my tongue, but can't get it.

[BobK]

Penultimate. And the one before that is antepenultimate.

b

[jbenson74]

Also Second to last or Second last

[nyggus]

Penultimate. And the one before that is antepenultimate.
b

Which (penultimate or last but one) is used more often in writing and which in speaking?

Best,
Nyggus

[MikeNewYork]

Which (penultimate or last but one) is used more often in writing and which in speaking?

Best,
Nyggus

IMO, the most common form is "next to last".

[nyggus]

I found something interesting:
penultimate/next to last

Best,
Nyggus

[Humble]

Tnx, Nyggus, seems to be a nice resource.

[Tdol]

Maybe it's a BrE/AE difference, but I think that 'last but one' would be more common that 'next to last' in BrE. I checked with the British National Corpus and they gave 2 for next to last and 22 for last but one. They also gave 161 for penultimate, many of which appear to be spoken instances.

[eworthy]

dictionary.com defines penultimate as 'next to last'. 'last but one' is descriptive but awkward to my AmE ear.

[BobK]

Which (penultimate or last but one) is used more often in writing and which in speaking?

Best,
Nyggus

Definitely the second. Penultimate is formal, and antepenultimate only used in academic circles (I'd say). I only mentioned it because I thought you were looking for a single word.

b