قلم
العربية
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قلم¹
- /qa.la.ma/
verb قَلَمَ · qalama · يَقْلِمُ · قَلْم · قَالِم
- to cut, to clip, to pare, to prune, to trim, to lop, to truncate, to snip, to cut back, to cut down
- to make stripes, to stripe
- to fleece, to fleece wool
قلم²
- /qal.la.ma/
Where it comes from
Intensive form II verb derived from form I verb قَلَمَ (qalama, “to cut”).
verb قَلَّمَ · qallama · يُقَلِّمُ · تَقْلِيم · مُقَلِّم
- to cut much or frequently
- to striate, to stripe
قلم³
- /qa.lam/
- /ʔa.lam/ Egyptian
- /qələm/ Kuwait
- /ɡa.lam/ Hijazi
- /qlam/
- /qa.lam/ Moroccan
- /ʔa.lam/ North Levantine
Where it comes from
Derived from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos). Nöldeke and Jeffery are convinced that it comes thence via Ge'ez ቀለም (ḳäläm, “reed”), while Leslau notes that ቀለም (ḳäläm, “reed”) could come from Arabic. But the meaning “reed” – referring to a plant – is not actually attested for the Arabic word, and given the peculiar semantics in Ge'ez where the word ቀለም (ḳäläm) is mixed into the root of ቀለመ (ḳälämä, “to color, to stain, to write”) and as well means “color”, “ink”, “inkstand”, as Leslau separates himself, a Ge'ez origin can explain why in Arabic the meaning is restricted to “pen” in the beginning compared with the Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos) meaning “reed cane” in general.
noun قَلَم · qalam · أَقْلَام · الْقَلَم
- pen, reed pen الَّذِىۡ عَلَّمَ بِالۡقَلَمِ
- pencil قَلَم رَصَاص
- writing, script, calligraphic style, ductus, handwriting
- style
- office, bureau, agency
- window, counter
- item, entry
- stripe, streak, line, bar, stria
- [with بِـ] بِقَلَم (biqalam): written by (often used to indicate the writer of an article)
قلم⁴
- /qalm/
noun قَلْم · qalm · الْقَلْم · قَلْمٌ
- verbal noun of قَلَمَ (qalama) (form I)
In English
Talk about this word "قلم." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. قلم. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85 "قلم." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85.Cite this
@misc{micwyn_2026,
title = {قلم},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
