| ← 1 | 2 | 3 → [a], [b], [c] |
|---|---|---|
| Cardinal: two Ordinal: second Latinate ordinal: secondary Reverse order ordinal: second to last, second from last, last but one Latinate reverse order ordinal: penultimate Adverbial: two times, twice Multiplier: twofold Latinate multiplier: double Distributive: doubly Group collective: both, pair, twosome Multipart collective: doublet, couple, couplet Greek or Latinate collective: dyad Metric collective prefix: double- Greek collective prefix: di-, duo- Latinate collective prefix: bi- Fractional: half Metric fractional prefix: demi- Latinate fractional prefix: semi- Greek fractional prefix: hemi- Elemental: twin, doublet Greek prefix: deutero- Number of musicians: duo, duet, duplet Number of years: biennium | ||
last but one (not comparable)
In addition to the Latinate penultimate, the traditional English expressions for this idea were last but one and (less often) second last. Following the 1920s, American use has favored next to last to the point that last but one now functions as a Britishism. While last but one continues to be somewhat more popular in Britain, next to last, second to last, etc. have been gaining in popularity.