diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/msys2_path_conv.cc b/winsup/cygwin/msys2_path_conv.cc
index 34c4d26c56..c347bd4cb8 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/msys2_path_conv.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/msys2_path_conv.cc
@@ -410,6 +410,9 @@ path_type find_path_start_and_type(const char** src, int recurse, const char* en
       if (isalpha(*it)) {
         it += 1;
         starts_with_minus_alpha = 1;
+        if (memchr(it, ';', end - it)) {
+        	return WINDOWS_PATH_LIST;
+        }
       }
     }