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Segolates are words in the Hebrew languages whose end is of the form CVCVC, where the vowel receives syllable stress. Such words are called "segolates" because the final unstressed vowel is typically (but not always) segol.
These words evolved from older Semitic words that ended in a complex coda; indeed, when a suffix (other than an absolute plural) is added to a segolate, the original form (or something similar) reappears (cf. kéleḇ "dog" vs. kalbī "my dog").
Examples:
| *ʼarṥ | ʼéreṣ, ʼā́reṣ | ʼarṣ- | earth; land | ||
| *ʼurn | ʼṓren | ʼorn- | pine tree | ||
| *baʻl | báʻal, bā́ʻal | baʻăl- | husband | ||
| *zarʻ | zéraʻ, zā́raʻ | zarʻ- | seed | ||
| *yayn | yáyin, yā́yin | yên- | wine | ||
| *milḥ | mélaḥ | milḥ- | salt | ||
| *milk | méleḵ | malk- | king | ||
| *kalb | kéleḇ, kā́leḇ | kalb- | dog | ||
| *laḥy | léḥî, ləḥî | leḥĕy- | cheek; tool jaw | ||
| *ʻibr | ʻḖḇer | ʻiḇr- | Eber | ||
| *ʻayn | ʻáyin, ʻā́yin | ʻên- | eye | ||
| *ṣidq | ṣéḏeq | ṣiḏq- | righteousness |
The ancient forms like *CawC (such as šawr "bull") almost universally evolved to non-segolate CôC ( šôr), though there are exceptions, such as mā́weṯ "death".
Some segolate words' final syllable ends with a patach rather than a segol, due to the influence of guttural consonants (, , , ) in the final syllable.
Classical Arabic still preserves forms similar to the reconstructed Ancient Hebrew forms, although significantly simplified. Examples include ʼarḍ "earth", kalb "dog", ʻayn "eye", ṣidq "sincerity".
Some modern dialects insert an epenthetic vowel between the final two consonants, similar to what happened in Hebrew.
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