diff --git a/modules/home-environment.nix b/modules/home-environment.nix
index 0e3bef900..652ac086c 100644
--- a/modules/home-environment.nix
+++ b/modules/home-environment.nix
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ in
         ".git/safe/../../bin"
       ];
       description = ''
-        Extra directories to add to {env}`PATH`.
+        Extra directories to prepend to {env}`PATH`.
 
         These directories are added to the {env}`PATH` variable in a
         double-quoted context, so expressions like `$HOME` are
@@ -319,6 +319,27 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
+    home.sessionSearchVariables = mkOption {
+      default = { };
+      type = with types; attrsOf (listOf str);
+      example = {
+        MANPATH = [
+          "$HOME/.npm-packages/man"
+          "\${xdg.configHome}/.local/share/man"
+        ];
+      };
+      description = ''
+        Extra directories to prepend to arbitrary PATH-like
+        environment variables (e.g.: {env}`MANPATH`). The values
+        will be concatenated by `:`.
+        These directories are added to the environment variable in a
+        double-quoted context, so expressions like `$HOME` are
+        expanded by the shell. However, since expressions like `~` or
+        `*` are escaped, they will end up in the environment
+        verbatim.
+      '';
+    };
+
     home.sessionVariablesExtra = mkOption {
       type = types.lines;
       default = "";
@@ -575,11 +596,18 @@ in
         export __HM_SESS_VARS_SOURCED=1
 
         ${config.lib.shell.exportAll cfg.sessionVariables}
-      '' + lib.optionalString (cfg.sessionPath != [ ]) ''
-        export PATH="$PATH''${PATH:+:}${lib.concatStringsSep ":" cfg.sessionPath}"
-      '' + cfg.sessionVariablesExtra;
+      '' + lib.concatStringsSep "\n"
+        (lib.mapAttrsToList
+          (env: values: config.lib.shell.export
+            env
+            (config.lib.shell.prependToVar ":" env values))
+          cfg.sessionSearchVariables)
+        + cfg.sessionVariablesExtra;
     };
 
+    home.sessionSearchVariables.PATH =
+      lib.mkIf (cfg.sessionPath != [ ]) cfg.sessionPath;
+
     home.packages = [ config.home.sessionVariablesPackage ];
 
     # The entry acting as a boundary between the activation script's "check" and
diff --git a/modules/lib/shell.nix b/modules/lib/shell.nix
index ae30e0b0f..04f9135cf 100644
--- a/modules/lib/shell.nix
+++ b/modules/lib/shell.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ let
     };
 
 in rec {
+  # Produces a Bourne shell like statement that prepend new values to
+  # an possibly existing variable, using sep(arator).
+  # Example:
+  #   prependToVar ":" "PATH" [ "$HOME/bin" "$HOME/.local/bin" ]
+  #   => "$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:${PATH:+:}\$PATH"
+  prependToVar = sep: n: v:
+    "${lib.concatStringsSep sep v}\${${n}:+${sep}}\$${n}";
+
   # Produces a Bourne shell like variable export statement.
   export = n: v: ''export ${n}="${toString v}"'';
 
diff --git a/tests/modules/home-environment/default.nix b/tests/modules/home-environment/default.nix
index e76e248a1..c38ad5ce5 100644
--- a/tests/modules/home-environment/default.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/home-environment/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
-  home-session-variables = ./session-variables.nix;
   home-session-path = ./session-path.nix;
+  home-session-search-variables = ./session-search-variables.nix;
+  home-session-variables = ./session-variables.nix;
 }
diff --git a/tests/modules/home-environment/session-path.nix b/tests/modules/home-environment/session-path.nix
index 57cfeceda..907d6c398 100644
--- a/tests/modules/home-environment/session-path.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/home-environment/session-path.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+{ ... }:
 
 {
   imports = [
@@ -10,6 +10,6 @@
     hmSessVars=home-path/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh
     assertFileExists $hmSessVars
     assertFileContains $hmSessVars \
-      'export PATH="$PATH''${PATH:+:}bar:baz:foo"'
+      'export PATH="bar:baz:foo''${PATH:+:}$PATH"'
   '';
 }
diff --git a/tests/modules/home-environment/session-search-variables.nix b/tests/modules/home-environment/session-search-variables.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b12009f2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/modules/home-environment/session-search-variables.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{ ... }:
+
+{
+  imports = [
+    ({ ... }: { config.home.sessionSearchVariables.TEST = [ "foo" ]; })
+    ({ ... }: { config.home.sessionSearchVariables.TEST = [ "bar" "baz" ]; })
+  ];
+
+  nmt.script = ''
+    hmSessVars=home-path/etc/profile.d/hm-session-vars.sh
+    assertFileExists $hmSessVars
+    assertFileContains $hmSessVars \
+      'export TEST="bar:baz:foo''${TEST:+:}$TEST"'
+  '';
+}