Segol

For the Torah cantillation mark, see Segol (trope).

Segol
ֶ
IPA	e or e̞
Transliteration	e
English example	bed
Same sound	zeire
Example
שֶׁל
The word for of in Hebrew, shel. The three dots is a segol.
Other Niqqud
Shva · Hiriq · Zeire · Segol · Patach · Kamatz · Holam · Dagesh · Mappiq · Shuruk · Kubutz · Rafe · Sin/Shin Dot

Segol (Hebrew: סֶגּוֹל‎   IPA: [seˈɡol]) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign that is represented by three dots forming an upside down equilateral triangle "ֶ". As such, it resembles an upside down therefore sign (a because sign) underneath a letter. In modern Hebrew, it indicates the phoneme /e/ which is similar to "e" in the English word sound in sell and is transliterated as an e.

In Modern Hebrew, a segol makes the same sound as a zeire, as does the Hataf Segol (Hebrew: חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל‎   IPA: [χaˈtaf seˈɡol], "Reduced Segol"). The reduced (or hataf) niqqud exist for segol, patach, and kamatz which contain a shva next to it.

Pronunciation

The following table contains the pronunciation and transliteration of the different segols in reconstructed historical forms and dialects using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The transcription in IPA is above and the transliteration is below.

The letters Bet "ב" and Het "ח" used in this table are only for demonstration. Any letter can be used.

Symbol	Name	Pronunciation
		Israeli	Ashkenazi	Sephardi	Yemenite	Tiberian	Reconstructed
							Mishnaic	Biblical
בֶ	Segol	[e̞]	?	?	?	[ɛ, ɛː]	?	?
בֶי, בֶה, בֶא	Segol Male	[e̞]	?	?	?	[ɛː]	?	?
חֱ	Hataf Segol	[e̞]	?	?	?	[ɛ̆]	?	?

In addition, a letter with a segol or zeire with a succeeding yud often makes the "ei" (also spelled "ey") sound such as in they or tape.

Vowel Length comparison

By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) the vowel is made very short. However, these vowels lengths are not manifested in Modern Hebrew.

Vowel comparison table
Vowel Length			IPA	Transliteration	English example
Long	Short	Very Short
ֵ‎	ֶ‎	ֱ‎	[e̞]	e	temp
Zeire	Segol	Reduced Segol

Unicode encoding

Glyph	Unicode	Name
ֶ	U+05B6	SEGOL
ֱ	U+05B1	HATEF SEGOL

See also

• Niqqud
• Zeire