Originally Posted By: maverick

then there's preantepenultimate, and... smile


you can actually find this used quite a bit in discussions of stress and syllabication/syllabification.

but here's my question: preantepenultimate is often defined as 'fourth from last'; why isn't it third from the last?

ultimate: last
penultimate: next to the last
antepenultimate: second? from the last
pre~: third? from the last

unless, of course you're counting from the 'edge', as in a photo:
on the left is.. second from the left.. third from the left