Wikipedia
Segolates are words in the Hebrew language whose end is of the form CVCVC, where the penultimate 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 Canaanite and Semitic words that ended with two consonants; 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:
- Ancient
Tiberian
Stem
Meaning
- ʼarṥ
אֶרֶץ/אָרֶץ
ʼéreṣ/ʼāreṣ
אַרְצ-
- ʼurn
אֹרֶן
ʼōren
אָרְנ-
- baʻl
בַּעַל/בָּעַל
báʻal/bāʻal
בַּעֲל-
- zarʻ
זֶרַע/זָרַע
zéraʻ/zāraʻ
זַרְע-
- yayn
יַיִן/יָיִן
yáyin/yāyin
יֵינ-
- milḥ
מֶלַח
mélaḥ
מַלְח-
- milk
מֶלֶך
méleḵ
מַלְכּ-
- kalb
כֶּלֶב/כָּלֶב
kéleḇ/kāleḇ
כַּלְבּ-
- laḥy
לֶחִי/לְחִי
ləḥî/léḥî
לֶחֱי-
- ʻIbr
עֵבֶר
ʻĒḇer
עִבְר-
- ʻayn
עַיִן/עָיִן
ʻáyin/ʻāyin
עֵינ-
- ṣidq
צֶדֶק
ṣéḏeq
צִדְק-
The ancient forms like *CawC (such as šawr "bull") almost universally evolved to non-segolate CôC (שׁוֹר šôr), though there are exceptions, such as מָוֶת māweṯ "death".
Classical Arabic still preserves forms similar to the reconstructed Ancient Hebrew forms, e.g. 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.