# last
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läst, IPA: /lɑːst/
* (General American) enPR: lăst, IPA: /læst/
* Audio (US):(file)
* (Northern England, Canada) IPA: /last/
* (Scotland) IPA: /ɫast/
* Rhymes: -ɑːst, -æst

### Etymology 1

From Middle English laste, latst, syncopated variant of latest.

#### Adjective

last (not comparable)
* Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.
    Eyes Wide Shut was the last film to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
* Most recent, latest, last so far.
    The last time I saw him, he was married.
    I have received your note dated the 17th last, and am responding to say that […] (archaic usage)
** 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:She told him the last news about little Georgy, and how he was gone to spend that very day with his sisters in the country.
** 2013 May 25, “No Hiding Place”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year.
* Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition; most unlikely, or least preferable.
    He is the last person to be accused of theft.
    The last person I want to meet is Helen.
    More rain is the last thing we need right now.
* Being the only one remaining of its class.
    Japan is the last empire.
* Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.
** 1802, Robert Hall, Reflections on War:Contending for principles of the last importance.
* Lowest in rank or degree.
    Three contestants will win awards, but the last prize is just a book voucher.
** 1797 May 8 (first performance), Richard Cumberland, “The Last of the Family. A Comedy.”, in Frances Marianne [Cumberland] Jansen, editor, The Posthumous Dramatick Works of the Late Richard Cumberland, Esq. […], volume II, London: […] [F]or G[eorge] and W[illiam] Nicol, […]; by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co., […], published 1813, →OCLC, Act III, scene [iii], page 237:In one word then, unless I could unfold the mystery, I will not wish you to consider me but as the last and lowest of mankind.
** 1899, Richard Savage, The White Lady of Khaminavatka: A Story of the Ukraine, page 186:The whole community from the patrician master to the last beggar knew that in the five months when the generous bosom of the steppe throbbed with creative life, they must toil for the subsistence of all […]
** 1970, Julius Fast, Body Language, →ISBN, page 39:Lesser, but still important executives had offices without corner windows. The rank below this had offices without windows at all. […] The last rank had desks out in an open room.
** 2003 March 31, Marko Peljhan, “Lecture: March 31, 2003”, in Jen Budney, Adrian Blackwell, editors, Unboxed Engagements in Social Space, published 2005, →ISBN, page 110:Russia is a very different place than here. […] Even the last soldier knows who Malevich was, and what the Black Square is, since they were taught this in school.

##### Synonyms

* (final): rear, rearmost, caboose, dernier (dated), final, terminal, ultimate, lattermost; ("the last one"): at the end, on the tail end
* (most recent): latest, most recent

##### Derived terms

* at last
* at long last
* at the last
* at the last minute
* at the last moment
* be born last week
* belay my last
* born at night but not last night
* breathe one's last
* breathe one's last breath
* close one's eyes for the last time
* come down in the last shower
* court of last resort
* darning last
* dead last
* die in the last ditch
* draw one's last breath
* drug of last resort
* every last
* fall at the last hurdle
* famous last words
* Fermat's last theorem
* first and last
* for the last time
* from first to last
* get on someone's last nerve
* get the last laugh
* have seen one's last gum tree
* have the last laugh
* hear the last of
* he laughs best that laughs last
* he who laughs last laughs best
* he who laughs last laughs hardest
* I can't remember the last time
* if it's the last thing I do
* in the last analysis
* last 16
* last antecedent rule
* last big thing
* last-born
* last burst of fire
* last but one
* last call
* last cast
* last chance saloon
* last chicken in the shop
* last common ancestor
* last dance
* last day
* last ditch
* last-ditch
* last-ditcher
* last eight
* last four
* last frontier
* last full measure
* last-gasp
* last gasp
* last honors
* last honours
* last hoorah
* last hurrah
* last I checked
* last I heard
* last in first out
* last kilometre
* last known good
* last last
* last man standing
* last meal
* last-mentioned
* last mile
* last minute
* last-minute
* last moment
* last nail in the coffin
* last name
* last-named
* last night
* last of the big spenders
* last orders
* last out
* last photon orbit
* last post
* last quarter
* last resort
* last respects
* last rites
* last roundup
* last scattering surface
* last sixteen
* last stand
* last straw
* last survivor
* last thing
* last thing one needs
* last time
* last-time
* last time I checked
* last trump
* last trumpet
* last universal ancestor
* last week
* last will
* last will and testament
* last word
* last-wordism
* last words
* last year
* lender of last resort
* letter of last resort
* let the cobbler stick to his last
* next-to-last
* next to last
* nice guys finish last
* one's last
* on one's last legs
* pay one's last respects
* put the last hand to
* save the best for last
* second from last
* second-from-last
* second last
* second-last
* second-to-last
* second to last
* see the last of
* the last day
* the last favour
* the last I heard
* the last of pea-time
* the night before last
* the pitcher goes so often to the well that it is broken at last
* third last
* third to last
* too good to last
* to the last
* to the last man
* trade-last
* until the last dog is hung
* what did your last slave die of
* who was your servant last year
* with one's last breath
* you're only as good as your last shift

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Determiner

last
* The (one) immediately before the present.
    We went there last year.
    I was last to go; you're next.
* (of days of the week or months of the year) Closest in the past, or closest but one if the closest was very recent; of days, sometimes thought to specifically refer to the instance closest to seven days (one week) ago, or the most recent instance before seven days (one week) ago.
    It's Wednesday, and the party was last Tuesday; that is, not yesterday, but eight days ago.
    When you say last Monday, do you mean the Monday just gone, or the one before that?

##### Usage notes

* (both senses): This cannot be used in past or future tense to refer to a time immediately before the subject matter. For example, one does not say I was very tired yesterday, due to not having slept well last night: last night in that sentence refers to the night before the speaker is speaking, not the night before the "yesterday" to which he refers. He would need to say I was very tired yesterday, due to not having slept well the night before or the like.

##### Translations
#### Adverb

last (not comparable)
* Most recently.
    When we last met, he was based in Toronto.
** c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:How long is't now since last yourself and I / Were in a mask?
* (sequence) after everything else; finally
    I'll go last as I have to add the butter last.
    last but not least
** 1717, William Congreve, Samuel Croxall, John Dryden, Laurence Eusden, John Ozell, “Book X”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, / Adores; and, last, the thing adored desires.

##### Synonyms

* (after everything else): finally, lastly; see also Thesaurus:lastly

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English lasten, from Old English lǣstan, from Proto-West Germanic *laistijan, from Proto-Germanic *laistijaną. Cognate with German leisten (“yield”).

#### Verb

last (third-person singular simple present lasts, present participle lasting, simple past and past participle lasted)
* (intransitive) To endure, continue over time.
    Summer seems to last longer each year.
    They seem happy now, but that won't last long.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XLII, page 65:And love will last as pure and whole ⁠As when he loved me here in Time, ⁠And at the spiritual prime Rewaken with the dawning soul.
** 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; […].
** 2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:One of the earliest (and biggest) space weather events on record occurred in September 1859, when a massive solar eruption crashed into the Earth's magnetosphere, triggering a geomagnetic storm that lasted for days.
* (intransitive) To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.
    I don't know how much longer we can last without reinforcements.
* (intransitive, slang, of a man) To purposefully refrain from orgasm
* (transitive, obsolete) To perform, carry out.

##### Synonyms

    The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.
* continue
* endure
* survive

##### Antonyms

* disintegrate
* dissipate
* fall apart
* wear out

##### Related terms

* everlasting
* lasting

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

From Old English lǣste, Proto-Germanic *laistiz. Compare Swedish läst, German Leisten Dutch leest, Proto-Germanic *laistaz (“footprint”).

#### Noun

last (plural lasts)
* A tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes.
** 2006, Newman, Cathy, Every Shoe Tells a Story, National Geographic (September, 2006), 83,
    How is an in-your-face black leather thigh-high lace-up boot with a four-inch spike heel like a man's black calf lace-up oxford? They are both made on a last, the wood or plastic foot-shaped form that leather is stretched over and shaped to make a shoe.

##### Derived terms

* cobbler, keep to your last
* stick to one's last

##### Translations
#### Verb

last (third-person singular simple present lasts, present participle lasting, simple past and past participle lasted)
* To shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last.
    to last a boot

### Etymology 4

From Middle English last, from Old English hlæst (“burden, load, freight”), from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz (“burden, load, freight”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to put, lay out”). Cognate with West Frisian lêst, Dutch last, German Last, Swedish last, Icelandic lest.

#### Noun

last (plural lasts or lasten)
* (obsolete) A burden; load; a cargo; freight.
* (obsolete) A measure of weight or quantity, varying in designation depending on the goods concerned.
** 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 114:Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes [...].
** 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 169:The last of wool is twelve sacks.
* (obsolete) An old English (and Dutch) measure of the carrying capacity of a ship, equal to two tons.
** 1942 (1601), T D Mutch, The First Discovery of Australia, page 14,
    The tonnage of the Duyfken of Harmensz's fleet is given as 25 and 30 lasten.
* A load of some commodity with reference to its weight and commercial value.

##### Derived terms

* belast
* ballast

##### Translations
### Further reading

* “last”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* last (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* last on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* Alts, LTAs, SALT, Salt, TLAs, alts, lats, salt, slat

## Chinese
### Etymology

From English last.

### Pronunciation 1

* Cantonese (Jyutping): laa$^1$ si$^2$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: laa$^1$ si$^2$
*** Yale: lā sí
*** Cantonese Pinyin: laa$^1$ si$^2$
*** Guangdong Romanization: la$^1$ xi$^2$
*** Sinological IPA : /laː⁵⁵ siː³⁵/

#### Adjective

last
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) last (final; ultimate)

### Pronunciation 2

* Cantonese (Jyutping): laa$^1$ si$^4$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: laa$^1$ si$^4$
*** Yale: lā sìh
*** Cantonese Pinyin: laa$^1$ si$^4$
*** Guangdong Romanization: la$^1$ xi$^4$
*** Sinological IPA : /laː⁵⁵ siː²¹/

#### Verb

last
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) to last (to endure)

## Danish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /last/, [lasd̥]

### Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last, from the verb laden (“to transport”), from Old Saxon hladan.

#### Noun

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)
* cargo
* cargo hold, hold (cargo area)
* weight, burden

##### Synonyms

* (cargo): ladning
* (hold): lastrum

### Etymology 2

From Old Norse lǫstr, from the root of Proto-Germanic *lahaną (“to reproach, blame”), see also Old High German lastar (“vice”).

#### Noun

last c (singular definite lasten, plural indefinite laster)
* vice

##### Inflection
### Etymology 3

See laste (“to load, carry”) and laste (“to blame”).

#### Verb

last
* imperative of laste

### Further reading

* last on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{da}$

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /lɑst/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑst

### Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch last, from Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz. Equivalent to laden (“to load”) +‎ -st (“verbal noun”).

#### Noun

last m (plural lasten, diminutive lastje n)
* load, weight
* burden
* hindrance, problem
* expense
* (law) requirement, duty
* (dated) a measure of volume, 3 cubic meter

##### Derived terms

* belasten
* lastdrager
* last hebben van
* lastpost
* ten laste leggen
* vaste last

##### Descendants

* Negerhollands: last

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

last
* inflection of lassen:
** second/third-person singular present indicative
** (archaic) plural imperative

### Anagrams

* stal

## Estonian
### Noun

last (genitive lasti, partitive lasti)
* cargo

#### Declension
### Noun

last
* partitive singular of laps

## Faroese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /last/

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse lǫstr, from the root of Proto-Germanic *lahaną (“to reproach, blame”), see also Old High German lastar (“vice”).

#### Noun

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)
* vice

##### Inflection
### Etymology 2

From Middle Low German last, from the verb lāden (“to load”), from Old Saxon hladan.

#### Noun

last f (genitive singular lastar, plural lastir)
* cargo
* cargo hold, hold (cargo area)

##### Inflection
## German
### Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laːst/
* Audio:(file)

#### Verb

last
* second-person singular preterite of lesen
    Synonym: lasest
* second-person plural preterite of lesen

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /last/

#### Verb

last
* Alternative form of laste
** imperative singular of lasten
** (colloquial) first-person singular present of lasten

## Icelandic
### Etymology

See löstur (“fault, vice, reprehensible action”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /last/
* Rhymes: -ast

### Noun

last n (genitive singular lasts, no plural)
* blame
    Synonym: baktal

#### Derived terms

* guðlast (“blasphemy”)

#### Related terms

* lasta (“to blame”)

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

From Old Dutch *last, from Proto-Germanic *hlastuz.

### Noun

last m or f or n
* load, weight
* task, duty, obligation
* tax (money)
* (emotional) difficulty, sorrow
* a unit of volume

#### Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

#### Descendants

* Dutch: last
* ( Afrikaans: las
* Limburgish: las

### Further reading

* “last”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
* Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “last”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last.

#### Noun

last f or m (definite singular lasta or lasten, indefinite plural laster, definite plural lastene)
* a load or cargo

##### Derived terms

* aksellast
* dekkslast
* lastebil
* lastebåt
* lastedyr
* lasteevne
* lastekapasitet
* lasterom
* lasteskip
* lastetank
* lastwagen
* nyttelast
* overlast

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

last
* imperative of laste

### References

* “last” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Middle Low German last.

### Noun

last f or m (definite singular lasta or lasten, indefinite plural laster or lastar, definite plural lastene or lastane)
* a load or cargo

#### Derived terms

* aksellast
* dekkslast
* lastebil
* lastebåt
* lastedyr
* lasteevne
* lastekapasitet
* lasterom
* lasteskip
* lastetank
* nyttelast
* overlast

### References

* “last” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old English
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *laist, along with the feminine variant lǣst.
Cognate with Middle Dutch leest (Dutch leest), Old High German leist (German Leist), Old Norse leistr (“foot, sock”) (Swedish läst, Danish læst).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /lɑːst/

### Noun

lāst m (nominative plural lāstas)
* footstep, track
** 10th century, The Wanderer:Stondeð nū on lāste · lēofre duguþe weal wundrum hēah, · wyrmlīcum fāh.Now a wall stands in the track of dear band, by wonders high, with ophidians adorned.

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Derived terms

* feorhlāst (“trail of blood”)
* wræclāst (“path of exile”)

#### Related terms

* lǣstan
* lastword

## Slovene
### Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *volstь, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *walˀstís, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /láːst/

### Noun

lȃst f
* property

#### Inflection
### Further reading

* “last”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /last/
* Audio (Gotland):(file)
* Rhymes: -ast

### Etymology 1

From Middle Low German last, from the verb lāden (“to load”), from Old Saxon hladan.

#### Noun

last c
* cargo
* load; a burden
* load; a certain amount that can be processed at one time
* (engineering) load; a force on a structure
* (electrical engineering) load; any component that draws current or power

##### Derived terms

* accelerationslast
* bromslast
* huvudlast
* lastkombination
* lastmodell
* temperaturlast
* trafiklast
* vindlast

##### See also

* (cargo): lasta, lastbil
* (habit): vana, ovana

### Etymology 2

From Old Swedish laster (Old Icelandic lǫstr), from Old Norse löstr, from the root of Proto-Germanic *lahaną (“to reproach, blame”), see also Old High German lastar (“vice”).

#### Noun

last c
* habit which is difficult to get rid of, vice
    Rökning var hans enda lastSmoking was his only vice

##### Derived terms

* lastgammal

### Anagrams

* lats, salt, stal, tals